McCain's Health Care Plan Kicks Off

I really like the start McCain's health care plan so far based on two important pieces:

Mr. McCain’s health plan centers on eliminating the tax breaks for employers who provide health insurance for their workers — a marked departure from the current system — and giving $5,000 tax credits to families to buy their own insurance. His goal in shifting from employer-based coverage to having people buy their own policies is to encourage competition and choice, and to drive down the costs of health insurance.

The decision to put the choice of insurance with your employer is an extremely bad idea. It started as a result of wage freezes and employers looking for ways to attract workers through ways other than a direct wage. Company sponsored health care is born.

Never mind the fact that I can only choose from one provider. Or the fact that the two veterans that work for me receive a lower total value of their job than someone who is accepting the company insurance. Or those who work for me who are under 25 and still on their parents insurance also have a lower total value. Or the fact I could buy a "cheaper" plan elsewhere, but it would actually be more out of pocket to me. Apparently employee provided health care is good for Americans.

Shifting those same tax credits to individuals is a much better idea and would provide me with better choices for health care. Sure, I'd rather tax burden be lessened overall and credits like these eliminated altogether, but this is a start and I'll pick it over the other side's plans.

I do like that he does take a moment to pay attention to this fact:

Mr. McCain proposed that the federal government work with the states to cover those who cannot find insurance on the open market. With federal financial assistance, states would be encouraged to create high-risk pools that would contract with insurers to cover consumers who have been rejected on the open market.

He admits his plan isn't comprehensive yet and this is where he needs to do some more thinking. I appreciate the fact that the "I'll promise you" attitude he has about gas prices isn't here with health care. I'm torn on this issue, but I do understand that companies can't be held liable for individuals who choose not to get health care until they are sick. That's like me getting in a car accident and then complaining that State Farm wont fix my car because I didn't have insurance beforehand. If that is your primary goal with a health care plan, it only makes sense for Government to take over all insurance and make it mandatory for everyone. But I digress... some plans, especially local plans, to address this issue deserve discussion.

There's one more quote that I want to promise I'll get to in another post: "There are 47 million uninsured people in the United States, or 16 percent of the population." This number is misleading... I need to do a bit more research on the subject, though. (edit: and I did)