Battleangel

From the Colbert Report on Comedy Central (Jan 24 2007). Skip ahead to around 1 minute for a legendary summary of private health insurance and its use as a rationale for tax breaks. The same concept holds true for much of the promises made by the new political right, and not just in the US. It’s more than a little Orwellian when you come to realize the deceitfulness of such proposals.

Take his proposal to fix that whole health care mess with the only proven cure-all: tax breaks. It’s simple: Most people who can’t afford health insurance are also too poor to owe taxes. But if you give them a deduction from the taxes they don’t owe, they can use the money they’re not getting back from what they haven’t given to buy the health care they can’t afford.