STUDY FINDS 30% WOULD BUY THEIR OWN INSURANCE IF IT WERE DEDUCTIBLE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 13, 1992                   TAG: 9201130041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
STUDY FINDS 30% WOULD BUY THEIR OWN INSURANCE IF IT WERE DEDUCTIBLE
Nearly 30 percent of the 35 million people without health insurance would buy it with their own funds if they could deduct the full cost on their income tax returns, as corporations that provide health insurance as an employee benefit can do, according to a study to be released today.
"Today, millions of part-time workers, employees of small businesses, self-employed and unemployed individuals have to purchase health insurance with after-tax dollars," said Aaron Trippler, executive director of Health Care Solutions for America, a non-profit policy study organization here.
The organization said that a policy that costs an employer $4,000 to provide to a worker as a benefit might cost the same worker twice that much in pre-tax income to buy individually.
"Current tax policy allows corporations to deduct the entire cost of health insurance for their employees, while individuals purchasing their own insurance are not allowed any deduction at all," the group said.
Because of federal and state income taxes and Social Security taxes, "a middle class family buying insurance may need to earn an additional $8,200 to have enough net income to purchase a policy which costs a corporation $4,000 to provide," the study said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB