The progressive case for an excise tax

Ezra Klein makes it.

I support the excise tax as the best incremental compromise we're likely to get.

Ideally, like most health-care wonks, I'd want to eliminate tax credits for health benefits and require a transition to them being directly taken out of wages.

E.g. if you're making 70K/yr. and have a 10K/yr. health benefit, your employer would be required to recontract you for 80K/yr., and you would be directly responsible for contributing that 10K (or whatever other figure) to the health fund you wish to participate in (which could remain attached to your employer initially, but should eventually move to an individual market on a health exchange, so continued insurance is not directly tied to continued employment).