Kent Conrad: “This amendment simply allows individuals who buy health insurance on their own to deduct it from their taxes. All of us…”

“This amendment simply allows individuals who buy health insurance on their own to deduct it from their taxes. All of us talk about the uninsured. This is a chance to give a number of the uninsured the opportunity to buy health insurance on the same basis that we do in Congress, and that is to make it deductible. Some will say this is a cost. We are already paying for this, and probably much more, as people seek health care in the emergency room and other places when they are not insured. I encourage all of my colleagues to vote for the amendment to allow Americans to deduct 100 percent of the cost of the health insurance premium.”