Health Affairs

Posting date: February 25, 2004

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Health Affairs, 10.1377/hlthaff.w4.106
Copyright © 2004 by Project HOPE

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The Cost Of Tax-Exempt Health Benefits In 2004

John Sheils ^1* Randall Haught ²

¹ John Sheils is vice president of the Lewin Group in Falls Church, Virginia.
² Randall Haught is a senior scientist at the Lewin Group in Falls Church, Virginia.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

The tax expenditure for health benefits is the amount of revenues that the federal government forgoes by exempting health benefits and spending from the federal income and Social Security taxes, including (1) employer health benefit contributions for workers and retirees, (2) health benefit deductions for the self-employed, (3) health spending under flexible spending plans, and (4) the tax deduction for health expenses. We estimate that this expenditure will be $188.5 billion in 2004. Families with incomes of $100,000 or more (14 percent of the population) account for 26.7 percent of all health benefit tax expenditures.

Key Words: Access To Care, Business Of Health, Health Reform, Insurance - Employer-Based System, Insurance Coverage, Health Spending

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