McCain and Health Care
William McKenzie, in The Dallas Morning News, argues that McCain should push his health care edge. You didn't know McCain had a health care edge? Listen to McKenzie:
"Mr. McCain would give all individuals the means to buy insurance on their own. Families would receive a $5,000 tax credit to buy insurance. (Singles would get a $2,500 credit.) Everyone would qualify for the credit, although critics suggest Mr. McCain's $5,000 credit wouldn't help them meet today's average family premium. Fair enough. Hike the credit."
Tax credits do poor people, who have little or no tax liability, no good. So McKenzie's claim that McCain gives "all" individuals the means to buy insurance on the own is false.
McKenzie himself conceded that $5,000 is insufficient. McKenzie's glib solution? "Fair enough. Hike the credit." Unless McCain himself hikes the credit, it's not McCain's plan. And if it's not McCain's plan, then McKenzie is disingenous in repeatedly saying that McCain's plan gives "everyone" the chance to buy their own policy.
The one thing McCain's plan has going for it is portability. The credit does not depend on your employer. You can take your insurance (if you can afford it) to your next employer or wherever you go. That's good. But until McCain funds it properly, his plan makes things worse. Employers will drop their own insurance benefits and workers will have to retreat to a plan inadequately funded by President McCain's system.
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