�鶹Ů��

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday proposed a tax credit for families and individuals who face excessive and unexpected health care costs, the first part of multipronged approach to giving middle-class Americans tax relief that she will unveil in the coming days, according to her campaign. The proposal, which would provide a tax credit on health costs of up to $2,500 for an individual and $5,000 for a family, comes as Mrs. Clinton has sought to use the issue of taxes on the middle-class to draw a distinction between her proposals and those of her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. (Chozick, 11/20)

[Hillary] Clinton, who was in the midst of a campaign swing through the South, has tried to create a wedge on taxes with her main rival for the nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. In Memphis, she touted a tax refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals she proposed earlier this year. Americans with out-of-pocket health care expenses exceeding 5 percent of their income would be eligible for the refund. Her campaign says the tax cut will be funded through tax increases on wealthy families and by "demanding" rebates from drug manufactures. (Sainz and Lerer, 11/20)

All week, Clinton’s and San­ders’s camps traded barbs over middle-class taxes, an issue that Clinton’s campaign believes is a proxy for broader differences between the two candidates. Clinton’s stance highlights her focus on preserving President Obama’s health-care legacy, while Sanders has offered a proposal that seeks to make good on his promise of bringing a “political revolution.” ... in campaign stops in Tennessee and South Carolina, she focused on health care and a plan to give middle-class families as much as $5,000 in tax credits for unexpected out-of-pocket health-care costs. (Phillip and Wagner, 11/21)

If you’re caring for an aging parent, deciding whether to invest in rural America or struggling to pay medical bills, Hillary Clinton has a tax credit for you. As the Democratic presidential front-runner rolls out her policy agenda, she has repeatedly turned to the tax code as one of her favorite policy tools. It offers a way to reward behavior she wants to see more of, punish actions that she sees as harmful and directly aid families with particular challenges. ... The Clinton campaign pitched its latest idea on Sunday, a tax credit worth up to $1,200 for people caring for aging parents and grandparents. The credit would be available to those whose out-of-pocket expenses reach $6,000, with the value of the credit phasing out for upper-income families. (Rubin and Meckler, 11/23)

[Hillary Clinton] is seeking a tax credit to offset up to $6,000 in caregiving expenses for elderly family members. In her proposal, Clinton states that the number of Americans needing long-term care and support is expected to grow from about 12 million today to 27 million by 2050. She says that family members often have to take time away from work, using vacation time or personal time to provide care. (Lucey, 11/22)

A senior aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday characterized Hillary Clinton’s latest tax plans as “tentative half-steps that sound Republican-lite,” escalating the sparring between the Democratic presidential campaigns over their respective commitments to helping the middle class. ... The statement came in response to a pair of initiatives put forward by Clinton on Sunday that would benefit people who care for an elderly parent or other family member. (Wagner, 11/22)

Sanders has said repeatedly that he wants to build on the health-care system created under the Affordable Care Act and to expand it to provide health insurance regardless of income or age. It’s clear that the provisions in his bill to “repeal” ACA state exchanges was not just for the sake of repealing the law, in the way critics who oppose passage of ACA use the term “repeal.” But the language of his legislation — all three times he introduced it — clearly stated that existing federal programs would be replaced with a new program that he sought to create. It wouldn’t simply increase current levels of coverage but would create a whole new health insurance system with new quality-control methods, a new standards board, and more. (Lee, 11/23)

As a surgeon, [Ben Carson] was praised for his dedication, unassuming demeanor and attention to detail. As a candidate, he has sometimes seemed imprecise or ill-informed, as when he said China had intervened in Syria, and prone to odd assertions like his belief that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. Some articles have questioned the accuracy of parts of “Gifted Hands.” His comments doubting evolution and the medically recommended schedule of vaccines have baffled people in science and medicine. (Belluck and Eder, 11/22)