Health Care-Uncover The Mystery

[Big Blue Owl]

We are all within the "middle class" here, right? Give or take? Well, then we should all be concerned as to what our candidates have to offer in the way of a health care plan.

McCain's Health plan

John McCain's plan calls on we, the employees, to pay income tax on the amount that our employer pays to the work-based insurer, and in most cases, that is hundreds of taxable dollars per month, more if your wife and/or children are also covered.
He offers a tax credit to offset this tax.

The big problem with this plan is that the health care credit will not keep up with the rising tax imposed by the insurance, and soon, most of us would not be able to afford insurance through our employers because of being taxed on it. Then we'd have to seek insurance on the open market.

Have you heard of medical overwriting? This practice will make it nearly impossible to get insured if you have a pre-existing condition. So when dad needs chemo for that pesky cancer, or sis has to get treatment for her life-long battle with M.S. it's either, sorry, we can't insure you due to the fact that you are not already healthy, or we can insure you, but your deductible will be outrageous and coverage very low.

And if people left the work insurance pools, the only thing our employers can do is raise the rates of those of us that remain and erode away the insurance through the workplace system altogether.

Obama's Insurance Plan

This plan gives the employer the choice to either offer health care to employees or to pay a tax that would go toward insuring the uninsured. It hinges on how much this tax rate would be. It stands to reason that if the tax is high, like say 9% employers would offer insurance. If it was low, they'd probably just pay the tax.

Also, the plan includes a new national healthcare for those that would rather get insurance on their own or can't afford it altogether. It's an Insurance Exchange where multiple private insurers form a pool. This very regulated (in the workers favor) pool of insurers will offer it to anyone and can't be underwritten, must have low deductibles and high coverage. Small businesses can also use this system so that they can get the chance to thrive, making it possible to someday become a large business if they so desire.

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I'm sure there are details that I don't have access to and have left out. If anyone gets any new information on this subject, please post it here.

For more info from a non-partisan expert in the field, check out Jonathan Oberlander, UNC Associate Professor Social Medicine And Health Policy And Administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE5na2by4vc

[Xanadu]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul339.html