Sen. Sanders: Fund Dental Care With Trading Tax (ABC News)

June 7, 2012

By Meghan Kiesel

Everyone agrees that more American kids need dental care. But nobody seems to agree on how to pay for it.

A new proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would create a new tax on Wall Street and use the proceeds to extend comprehensive dental coverage to all Medicare, Medicaid and VA beneficiaries. It would also increase funding for school-based dental services and oral health professional student loans, as well as free up resources to establish mobile dental units, emergency room care coordination programs and initiatives recruiting dental professionals to low-income areas.

According to Sanders’ legislation, funding for these programs would be drawn from a tax on non-consumer financial trading. The proposed tax, which would levy a $2.50 fee on every $10,000 of non-consumer trading such as credit default swaps, derivatives, and the sale and purchase of stocks and bonds, “would raise $288 billion over the next 10 years,” according to a fact sheet from Sanders’ team.

Read the whole article >>

 

Tags: ,