Posted on 05/15/2008 12:33:03 AM PDT by Bob J
Today, In Florida, John McCain Outlined His Plan For Health Care Reform. John McCain believes we can and must provide access to health care for every American. He has proposed a comprehensive vision for achieving that. For too long, our nation's leaders have talked about reforming health care. Now is the time to act.
Americans Are Worried About Health Care Costs.The problems with health care are well known: it is too expensive and 47 million people living in the United States lack health insurance.
John McCain Believes The Key To Health Care Reform Is To Restore Control To The Patients Themselves. We want a system of health care in which everyone can afford and acquire the treatment and preventative care they need. Health care should be available to all and not limited by where you work or how much you make. Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over care.
John McCain Will Reform Health Care Making It Easier For Individuals And Families To Obtain Insurance. An important part of his plan is to use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability. Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines.
John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage. While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will also have the option of receiving a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Families will be able to choose the insurance provider that suits them best and the money would be sent directly to the insurance provider. Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.
John McCain Proposes Making Insurance More Portable. Americans need insurance that follows them from job to job. They want insurance that is still there if they retire early and does not change if they take a few years off to raise the kids.
John McCain Will Encourage And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) For Families. When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options. Health Savings Accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.
John McCain's Plan Cares For The Traditionally Uninsurable. John McCain understands that those without prior group coverage and those with pre-existing conditions have the most difficulty on the individual market, and we need to make sure they get the high-quality coverage they need.
John McCain Will Work With States To Establish A Guaranteed Access Plan. As President, John McCain will work with governors to develop a best practice model that states can follow - a Guaranteed Access Plan or GAP - that would reflect the best experience of the states to ensure these patients have access to health coverage. One approach would establish a nonprofit corporation that would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. There would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for Americans below a certain income level.
John McCain Will Promote Proper Incentives. John McCain will work with Congress, the governors, and industry to make sure this approach is funded adequately and has the right incentives to reduce costs such as disease management, individual case management, and health and wellness programs.
John McCain Proposes A Number Of Initiatives That Can Lower Health Care Costs. If we act today, we can lower health care costs for families through common-sense initiatives. Within a decade, health spending will comprise twenty percent of our economy. This is taking an increasing toll on America's families and small businesses. Even Senators Clinton and Obama recognize the pressure skyrocketing health costs place on small business when they exempt small businesses from their employer mandate plans.
CHEAPER DRUGS: Lowering Drug Prices. John McCain will look to bring greater competition to our drug markets through safe re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generic drugs.
CHRONIC DISEASE: Providing Quality, Cheaper Care For Chronic Disease. Chronic conditions account for three-quarters of the nation's annual health care bill. By emphasizing prevention, early intervention, healthy habits, new treatment models, new public health infrastructure and the use of information technology, we can reduce health care costs. We should dedicate more federal research to caring and curing chronic disease.
COORDINATED CARE: Promoting Coordinated Care. Coordinated care - with providers collaborating to produce the best health care - offers better outcomes at lower cost. We should pay a single bill for high-quality disease care which will make every single provider accountable and responsive to the patients' needs.
GREATER ACCESS AND CONVENIENCE: Expanding Access To Health Care. Families place a high value on quickly getting simple care. Government should promote greater access through walk-in clinics in retail outlets.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Greater Use Of Information Technology To Reduce Costs. We should promote the rapid deployment of 21st century information systems and technology that allows doctors to practice across state lines.
MEDICAID AND MEDICARE: Reforming The Payment System To Cut Costs. We must reform the payment systems in Medicaid and Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention and care coordination. Medicaid and Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
SMOKING: Promoting The Availability Of Smoking Cessation Programs. Most smokers would love to quit but find it hard to do so. Working with business and insurance companies to promote availability, we can improve lives and reduce chronic disease through smoking cessation programs.
STATE FLEXIBILITY: Encouraging States To Lower Costs. States should have the flexibility to experiment with alternative forms of access, coordinated payments per episode covered under Medicaid, use of private insurance in Medicaid, alternative insurance policies and different licensing schemes for providers.
TORT REFORM: Passing Medical Liability Reform. We must pass medical liability reform that eliminates lawsuits directed at doctors who follow clinical guidelines and adhere to safety protocols. Every patient should have access to legal remedies in cases of bad medical practice but that should not be an invitation to endless, frivolous lawsuits.
TRANSPARENCY: Bringing Transparency To Health Care Costs. We must make public more information on treatment options and doctor records, and require transparency regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs and prices. We must also facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.
John McCain Will Develop A Strategy For Meeting The Challenge Of A Population Needing Greater Long-Term Care. There have been a variety of state-based experiments such as Cash and Counseling or The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) that are pioneering approaches for delivering care to people in a home setting. Seniors are given a monthly stipend which they can use to: hire workers and purchase care-related services and goods. They can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. It also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers in handling their programmatic responsibilities.
MYTH: Some Claim That Under John McCain's Plan, Those With Pre-Existing Conditions Would Be Denied Insurance.
FACT: John McCain Supported The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act In 1996 That Took The Important Step Of Providing Some Protection Against Exclusion Of Pre-Existing Conditions.
FACT: Nothing In John McCain's Plan Changes The Fact That If You Are Employed And Insured You Will Build Protection Against The Cost Of Any Pre-Existing Condition.
FACT: As President, John McCain Would Work With Governors To Find The Solutions Necessary To Ensure Those With Pre-Existing Conditions Are Able To Easily Access Care.
One more try, and then I'm simply going to throw up my hands and give up trying altogether. ;)
I am in no conceivable way, shape or form "off topic." The title of this thread is: McCain on the Issues - Health Insurance Reform. Discussion of how said "health care reform" is to be PAID FOR, ultimately, is not only germane, but absolutely necesssary, by any intellectually defensible standard.
So, please: no more of this "off topic" nonsense, 'kay? 'Kay. ;)
If McCain agrees with me, there are no increased costs
... and if I manage to master the art of super-hypnosis by tomorrow evening, Salma Hayek's private life is going to take a dramatic and otherwise inexplicable turn. One's just as defensible a supposition as the other, I imagine. ;)
You watch the Food Channel?
I HATE those cake show too.
God bless JR.
You're off topic on illegals, I've explained that, "reform" in the context of the position statement excludes them
IMO health care shold be paid for by the consumers, imo the most sensible way through insurance for most of us.
Availability is an issue, particularly availability outside the confines of an employer.
I've explained that, read my posts, I'll respond to disagreements.
You're really concerned about illegals. I am too, but I recognize much of that fight is lost.
Employers of guest workers, my opinion not McCains, must be responsible for insurance, health, liability, unemployment.
If they're not, we're all going to pay for it, in dollars, and in reduced standards of care.And yes, I'd like to see him address the elephant.
“I will not make that mistake again.”
Yes, it would have been so much more fruitful for conservatives to have Gore or Kerry sitting in the Oval office. I bet the Afghans and Iraqis wish it were so.
Just like it was when Billy boy was there. Ahhh, the fond memories of passing ALL our legislation and sitting OUR justices on the Supreme Court.
No, you just can’t buy moments like that.
You're off topic on illegals
Find the word "illegals" in the plainly stated (and, as yet, wholly UNrefuted) statement, above.
You're better than this, SJ. Seriously.
Citation...?
Since I originally introduced the figure of 12k, I feel a certain responsibility to this question. I refer you to the same business week article I quoted earlier:
Businessweek: "McCain's Health-Care Proposal" by Catherine Arnst A Kaiser Family Foundation survey released last year found the average annual premium of an employer-based insurance policy is $12,000, of which employees pay about one-third.
John McCain needs to go read Milton Friedman if he really wants to reform heath care.
*shrugs* As it turns out, With the Repubs now offering Gore's Globull Warming/Kyoto crap, and Kerry's insurance coverage, plus amnesty, it doesn't seem to make that much difference at all, does it?
Slavery, in other words?
You sounded like Ric Flair just then.
Speak thou no ill of the marvelous magical Money Fairy, unwashed Saracen heathen. ;)
Kyoto was a indeed a worldwide wealth redistribution plan, but absent China and India participation. McCain wants a replacement for Kyoto, also a worldwide wealth redistribution plan. He has said he would like to have China and India participate, but would go ahead without them if they do not oblige.
McCain has ALWAYS favored an international component in the TRADE of carbon credits. That is the element that will see the U.S. economy tank and will effect the largest wealth redistribution.
There is nothing good about his plan. He needs to start listening to Inhofe instead of Al Gore and Maurice Strong.
You can vote for him, I'm not trying to stop you. The majority of threads started here are the reverse, questioning all of us detractors about this and that. Seriously, I think some of you are paid by the McCain Campaign to do this. You (maybe not you specifically, but certainly others here) all follow the same worn out treatise on why you have to vote for him.
So, I take it then that you are not a Conservative and don't subscribe to any of the ideological principles of this board?
Need I remind you that this is a Conservative board and not a Republican board?
Why are you here?
Conform or else, huh?
Then address that issue through trade negotiations. As it is, pharma companies have a shortened effective patent life for their products because the patent clock starts when the drug is submitted, not when it is approved. Speeding up the process for generics will just eat into that further.
I wasn’t looking for you to be obligated, I was pointing out that if there are not taxes paid for the poorest wage earners, there there is not tax against which to take the credit and there is no benefit for those who would need the assistance most.
Thanks for your kind reply.
In truth, all McCain has done is SAY what he will do. His record does not support anything he is now saying. Even now, he is backtracking and rationalizing his way back to his old tricks (ala comprehensive immigration reform, etc.).
Personally, I won't vote for him - won't vote for the other two either (now, you're gonna tell me a no vote for him is a vote for them). I find it extremely arrogant for him to be 'looking' back on his administration in the year 2013 and revering all the wonderful things he's done (yet to do). This is an egomanic pure and simple. Rather, he should be reflecting on his part in tearing down the Republican Party these past few decades. No thank you Mr. McCain.
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