A 1954 Tax Rule Is Why Your Healthcare Costs So Much

The gist

1. Conover backs Prop 40, a one-time 5% tax on about 250 billionaires raising about $100 billion; Bilyeu says it can't fix a permanent budget gap.
2. Bilyeu says a wartime wage freeze and a 1954 rule making employer insurance tax-free mean patients and employers rarely feel healthcare prices.
3. He says Obamacare's rule that insurers spend 80 to 85 cents per premium dollar on care means their profit grows only as prices rise.
4. Citing Fox and Liscow's research, Bilyeu says the top 1% borrow just 1 to 2% of income yearly, a pattern they call buy, save, die.
5. His proposed fix is ending the step-up in basis, so heirs pay tax on gains from the original cost when they sell.