I hate to give John McCain credit...

...but he was right about at least one thing during the 2008 campaign, and that is the need to change the tax exemption for employer-provided health care benefits. Obama is being stubborn, and wrong, in his refusal to go along with the idea.

Health care reform looks like it's going to cost about $1 trillion over the next decade. Taxing employer-provided health care benefits could yield as much as $250 billion a year, depending on how it's structured. Since unions negotiated generous health care packages in recent years in lieu of pay raises, and because the tax would include the middle class as well as the rich, Obama is reluctant to consider the idea. But math is math, and the foregone revenue could go a long way to financing reform.

It's also fairer. When I was working for large banks I had gold-plated health insurance. I knew it was tax-free but didn't think about it too much. But at one point I reflected on the irony that the truly high earners at these firms were also getting Cadillac health insurance for free while one out of every six Americans didn't have any. That didn't seem right to me then and it doesn't seem right to me now. Employees should at least pay taxes on this benefit since it's really a form of compensation.

Another reason Obama is loathe to accept the idea is that he criticized McCain for supporting it during the campaign. But Obama also rejected Hillary's call for mandatory coverage and has since reversed himself on that. Now that it's getting close to the August recess, everyone may have to give a little to meet Obama's deadline. And that includes the president.