Reason Number Two - Health Care Reform UPDATE
John McCain and Sarah Palin will make it easier for individuals and families to obtain health insurance. Their plan will use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices and ensure portablility. Families will be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines.
It will provide a tax credit to offset the cost of insurance, make it portable so that insurance follows Americans from job to job and expands the benefits of Health savings Accounts.
The McCain plan transforms the current tax code to provide all American families – including the self-employed and the uninsured – the same tax benefit, a $5,000 refundable tax credit ($2,500 for individuals) that was previously only available to those with employer coverage. Families can use this credit to purchase insurance of their choice, including keeping their current coverage.
Under the McCain Plan, your employer can provide you with health insurance and you would pay no more in taxes – regardless of your tax bracket. In fact, you would have some additional money left over from the McCain tax credit to put in a health savings account.
While I don't think that government really should be involved in Health Care, McCain's plan is more of a hand's off, private enterprise approach.
5 comments:
I hope someone can help me out here because I don't understand this plan very well. We have Health Insurance through Gary's company which we can afford and which we like. What will happen with our coverage if McCain is elected? Will we have to give up our current coverage and use the money provided by the government (the tax credit) to buy something else or can we continue as we are? And if we continue as we are, do we get the tax credit anyway?
Thanks for the clarification. I researched health insurance plans and if Gary's company were to drop his insurance because of the tax credit then we would be way out of pocket. We'd have to pay about $6000 a year in monthly charges only, not to mention high deductibles ranging from $1000 to $7500 plus $25-30 every time you go to the doctor's office. If Gary's company still offered the insurance plan despite the tax credit, the governement would be paying for our yearly vacation. As it applies to our family, it would hurt us or be a waste of government resources.
Allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, etc will make the price of private insurance drop. Competition and all, ya know. IMO, the tax credits are not necessary; I think people should be responsible for themselves. But in our current society, with the idea that every one needs health insurance (didn't have it when I was younger ;) ) a branch has to be offered. In the 2 states where mandating health insurance was mandated it has been a disaster. Massachusets is paying 5 times what they projected, because everyone is dropping their own insurance to use the state's "backup" plan. Hawaii dropped it after 9 months because it was going to bankrupt the state for the same reason.
I understand the intention and I think it's admirable. I do believe in government programs, especially with Healthcare because of the sheer cost. We have a regular reliable comfortable income but without some sort of program whether through governement or Gary's job we would find it very hard. Now if healthcare was less expensive, it would be a different thing.
Sarah, if you have questions about McCain's healthcare plan, you can read about it on his website. www.johnmccain.com The info on there is very clear.
I have also read Obama's plan on his own website. (I always like to go to the source when researching something.) Not all of his ideas are bad, but they require too much government control and involvement.
I'm with Ilona, that government shouldn't be very involved in healthcare, but I also prefer McCain's more free market approach.
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