I am as guilty as the next person looking for dirt on Sarah Palin, but clearly that is playing into the McCain campaigns strategy. Every day that we are talking about Alaska is another day we aren't talking about the downright scary policies that the McCain/Palin ticket is proposing. The McCain health care plan is really scary and millions of people will SUFFER if it becomes a reality. Clearly democrats have not done a good enough job getting this message out.
Joe Klien blogged about the McCain plan today and summed it up this way:
Think about that. Millions of people who now have employer provided health care would be subject to a tax on those services. In exchange they would get a completely insufficient tax credit.
This plan is scary and will hurt people. We can contrast that with Obama's health care plan which consists of three goals.
Joe Klien blogged about the McCain plan today and summed it up this way:
John McCain wants to tax your employer-provided health care benefits. He wants to replace those benefits with an insufficient tax credit--$2500 for individuals and $5000 for families (the average cost per family for health insurance is $12000).
Think about that. Millions of people who now have employer provided health care would be subject to a tax on those services. In exchange they would get a completely insufficient tax credit.
This plan is scary and will hurt people. We can contrast that with Obama's health care plan which consists of three goals.
1. Quality, Affordable & Portable Health Coverage For All
2. Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System To Lower Costs & Improve Quality
3. Promoting Prevention & Strengthening Public Health
This information needs to get out and every day that we talk about Palin's past is a day that this message gets squashed!
UPDATE: I guess the NYT read that Joe Klein Blog because they just released an article on this subject. The McCain campaign acklnowledge itself that:
UPDATE: I guess the NYT read that Joe Klein Blog because they just released an article on this subject. The McCain campaign acklnowledge itself that:
Mr. McCain’s health care tax credits would not be large enough to compensate for his proposal to eliminate the tax breaks afforded to workers with employer-provided health benefits.
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2 comments:
The math doesn't add up to this being a bad plan. A health benefit valued at $12,000 would only exceed the $5,000 tax credit for families if it were taxed at 41.66% That's not the prevailing tax rate.
McCain may be a dishonorable characterless lying bastard, but it doesn't make sense to link personal health insurance to employment, and that link is one of the reasons healthcare costs have ballooned out of control.
Regardless of your position with regard to healthcare being employer provided, the point is that people need healthcare. It has to be provided one way or the other, but a $5,000 tax credit is not going to cut it.
Obama has said he would prefer to see a universal healthcare system, which would not be employer-based, but doesn't think it is politically feasible at the moment.
Trying to de-link healthcare from employment makes great sense, but to do so by abandoning people with a $5,000 tax credit, as McCain suggests, is cruel. Transitioning away from employer based healthcare could work if there are adequate alternatives. McCains' plan does not provide an adequate alternative.
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