Josh Hawley wants to cut taxes on health care. Wait until you hear what it includes
Hawley’s proposal would let taxpayers add up to $25,000 in medical expenses to the standard deduction.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYCredibility rates Yahoo News, which republished this story. The other scores rate the article itself.
Yahoo News is an established national publisher, and the page identifies the columnist’s Kansas City Star and McClatchy affiliation. The piece is commentary rather than original straight-news reporting.
- Source type — An established national news publisher hosts the column.
- Author attribution — The author is named and identified as a columnist for The Kansas City Star and McClatchy.
- Editorial standards — The publisher is an established news organization, though this item is opinion rather than reported news.
- Transparency — The article provides an author identification and professional affiliation.
The column explains the proposal and gives concrete examples of questions raised by existing tax rules. Its argument relies partly on the author’s own interpretation and unnamed accountants, and it does not present a response from Hawley’s office or a defense of the proposal.
HOW WE SCORE ↗This is a one-sided opinion column opposing the proposal. It offers no substantive defense of the idea and reports that Hawley’s office did not respond.
- Counterarguments presented — No argument from a supporter of the proposal is presented.
- Loaded language — The author uses sarcastic and derisive phrasing about Hawley and conservatives.
- Source diversity — The article relies on the author’s perspective and unnamed accountants, with no response from Hawley’s office.
- Opinion vs reporting — The piece is openly argumentative commentary rather than a balanced news report.
The column takes a clearly critical stance toward Hawley’s proposal and uses partisan language about him and MAGA conservatives. Its framing and choice of examples give the argument a left-leaning tilt.
- Language tone — The author uses dismissive and sarcastic language about Hawley and conservative critics.
- Framing — The proposal is framed mainly through alleged complications, inequities and political contradictions.
- Source selection — The column cites the author’s own view and unnamed accountants but offers no supporter’s account.
Republished with credit
Republished from The Sacramento Bee, with credit to the original publisher.
26 stories · 75–80 · updated Oct 12, 2026
This is The Sacramento Bee's own score, and this article is credited to The Sacramento Bee. The host score in the Source Check is Yahoo News's.
Sen. Josh Hawley has proposed allowing up to $25,000 in medical expenses, including insurance premiums, to be added to the standard deduction. This opinion column argues the proposal could benefit above-average earners and create difficult questions about which expenses qualify.
The column says Hawley’s proposal would let taxpayers add up to $25,000 in medical expenses, including premiums, to the standard deduction. It presents the idea as a possible fallback if lawmakers cannot agree on extending the Biden administration’s temporary Affordable Care Act subsidies. The author argues that many lower-income taxpayers already owe no income tax, so the benefit would generally go to people with above-average incomes.
The author also questions how the proposal would define health care, citing existing tax rules that cover expenses such as abortion, transgender-related care and weight-loss treatment. The column raises concerns about applying those rules to expenses such as travel, pets and cosmetic procedures, and argues that additional rules could make tax filing harder.
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