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.
The reason that we have fallen into the trap of thinking about constitutionally unauthorized federal public health care is as follows.
This post (<-click), while addressing taxes, helps to explain how 10th A. protected state powers were wrongly politically repealed by the USSC when FDR established his constitutionally unauthorized New Deal programs.
In fact, government "leaders" like Obama and Clinton are actually in contempt of the Constitution that they have sworn to defend because they are foolishly following in the footsteps of FDR's dirty federal spending politics. Indeed, the article referenced below shows that Obama is the #1 federal spending proposer in the Senate for '08; Clinton is #2.
Obama and Clinton, big-shot federal spendersAlso consider that when Jefferson discussed the Founder's division of federal and state government powers, he noted that the Founders had trusted the states, not the federal government, with the care of the people.
"Our citizens have wisely formed themselves into one nation as to others and several States as among themselves. To the united nation belong our external and mutual relations; to each State, severally, the care of our persons, (emphasized by Amendment10) our property, our reputation and religious freedom." --Thomas Jefferson: To Rhode Island Assembly, 1801. ME 10:262 http://tinyurl.com/onx4jThe truth of the matter is that if Obama, Clinton or McCain wants to start spending federal dollars in the name of health care then they are obligated to do the following. They must first do what FDR neglected to do and rally the people to exercise their Article V powers to properly amend the Constitution to authorize the feds to manage health care. Until such a time, however, health care remains a state power issue.
The people need to reconnect with the Founder's division of federal and state government powers. The people then need to wise up to the major problem that the federal government is not operating within the restraints of the federal Constitution, particularly where constitutionally unauthorized federal spending is concerned as evidenced by the idea of national health care.
The bottom line is that the people need to send big-shot, Constitution-ignoring federal spenders like Obama and Clinton home as opposed to trying to send people like them to the Oval Office. The people need to get in the faces of the feds, demanding a stop to constitutionally unauthorized federal spending while appropriately lowering federal taxes - or get out of DC.
Different subject, different topic, and though I haven't got far on this thread, I think BobJ has a great idea about rational threads one issue at a time. Maybe we should have something like the monitored threads in the religion forum.
That's a relevant issue though, despite not being covered in the "article".
First, they won't be illegal, they'll be legal. Hopefully legal workers with a long path to citizenship if any at all, but they're not going home.
IMO, health care should be the responsibility of the employer. Want a guest worker, I don't care who pays the premiums, but the employer should be responsible for health coverage. Liability coverage as well.
Actual illegals, I suppose the hospitals will continue to absorb the cost till they're deported. We'll pay for it. Hopefully jobless will be gone without a job, but if not there's medicaid, the existing nation health care plan, which we pay for.
Now, don't be offended, but the Conservative in me immediately proclaims that there should be no caps at all. Ever. That is interference which will only cost more in bureaucracy, and the cost/profit will go underground and pop up somewhere else.
The bottom line is hat there is no way to control the cost of health care as long as insurance is the encouraged model.
Nonsense. Both questions demonstrably deal specifically with the fiscal underpinnings of McCain's stated health care goals. Bob J simply chooses to use the inclusion of the dreaded "i"-word (immigration) as a laughably inadequate rhetorical fig leaf, in order to rationalize (ineffectually) his manifest unwillingness to deal with the rapaciously confiscatory taxation inherent in said strategem. And you're a good deal more than intelligent enough to see that much for yourself, certainly.
I suppose the hospitals will continue to absorb the cost till they're deported. We'll pay for it.
Precisely my point. And that means by which we'd be (by your own admission) "paying for it" = Increased Taxes.
It's no more complex than auto or life, but the system that's grown out of employer based health coverage dating to WWWII. Which means it may work if you work for a large employer, but even then your choice may be limited.
One option which has been raised is a system similar to the Federal Health plan, but with states or regions substituting as the employer.
I live in Illinois. Rather than administering health plans the state, or a multi state combination would take over. As with homeowners and auto, certain state standards would be met. If an insurer wishes to sell insurance in Illinois, he would establish his terms, premiums and take all comers. Irrespective of preexisting conditions. No different than the same employer approaching a corporate client.
Payment, my guess employers might take advantage of the situation to shift costs to the employee, but that's not a function of the plan, or of government. And they might not. More important, it provide employment flexibility unrelated to the availability of health care.
Whatever.
There is a group of people on this site that doesn't want anyone to talk about McCain unless it involves throwing feces. Now McCain might deserve despise, but that is up to the individual to decide and they shouldn't be bullied or intimidated into doing so.
He wasn't my candidate, I didn't vote for him. In fact, on the night Romney quit I started a thread called “The Official FR Drinking Thread” so we could wash away our disappointment. Prior to that I started a “McCain Haiku” thread so we could illustrate our displeasure while having a little fun.
But that wasn't the impression you had of me because these self styled censors had already done a job on me and convinced everyone I was some king of McCain-bot. They effectively silenced me and destroyed any objective analysis of my opinions right out of the gate by harassing and intimidating me and others who wanted some kind of useful discussion.
And why did they do this? Because they don't want anyone discussing McCain except how they want him discussed, they don't even want anyone thinking about McCain except the way they want people to think of him.
Now they might be chuckling to themselves and high fiving each other over their “success” but I say they are bad for Free Republic and they are bad for the conservative movement. They are self styled censors and propagandists who care nothing for any opinion that conflicts with their own and they will engage in what I consider to be at best boorish tactics bordering on harassment to achieve it.
Unfortunately, the free wheeling nature of FR and it's loose rules has allowed and encouraged this behavior. But it's always been that way on FR and history keeps repeating itself.
But that doesn't mean it's a good thing.
One could suppose that in McCain's case, such would be more than sufficient... But, no. That'd just be mean.
I could see that shift, but that's a function of employer choice. Many employer provided perks aren't a function of systemic dislocation as we have in health care. Life insurance is freely available, yet many employers provide it. IMO that a call for the market
Uninsured, yes, but I'd suggest the issue to address is the uncovered, of which there are none. We're absorbing the cost today under medicaid, which should be streamlined. An effective system which makes coverage available outside the confines of an employer leaves it to personal choice. For those who don't buy coverage, medicaid in some form will be there, I'll pay taxes for it, and since it's a personal choice will expect the government to pursue payment as they would delinquent taxes.
You can't force people to buy insurance. Shouldn't at least, I guess you can.
Bob J, Please get a grip. You are going off the deep end over a RINO on a conservative forum.
Have you considered that maybe it isn’t people here? Maybe you are in the wrong place. There are other places to post you know where you will get people to fall in line over a RINO liberal....just sayin’
I understand your frustration, but the rules weren't weighted toward McCain.
The rules were weighed towards Rudy. When he flamed out, McCain was the logical home for those voters in those winner take all states that just happened to be blue liberal Rockefeller type states.
Oh please, the media chose Rudy long before McCain made a comeback. Are you seriously suggesting the MSM plotted to see the most capable and agressive warrior win the nomination?
So you’re saying the only way to deal with this effectively is through the employer (with costs passed on to the customer through higher prices but at least it would be an even playing field for all business’s) and those that aren’t employed would have insurance available through a group risk pool via each state? Those that don’t do either would see care through medicaid, as it is now?
Cost, I don't see that as the federal government's role. However it's fare to note that for the insured the cost is being borne by the insured and their employer. That won't change. The employer/employee allocation might, that's a micro issue. And if you're buying insurance on your own, you'll likely benefit from the economies of scale available to large employers. Like the federal government. As to medicaid and the uninsured, that's really a different question. One which needs to be addressed, but not in the context of those who are able and willing to be personally responsible.
Offset by a tax credit to the individual, you left that out. Essentially neutral.
Exactly. But consumers are not allowed to purchas health insurance across state lines in most states.
Newbie, don’t tell me what FR is about, I was organizing protests and out in the streets carrying FR signs about Billy and Hilly long before you ever heard of FR.
I just love it when the new kids think they are making it all up for the first time. They are even too lazy to check profiles.
BTW - I didn’t want to play long time FReeper card but your idiotic reference to my not knowing what FR is about is the height of ignorance if not arrogance. I’ve been through it all twice and your still in swaddling.
Inaccurate. From Post #80: "whereupon the employee/citizen could apply their nifty $2500-$5000 deduction, leaving the citizen/bagholder on the hook for $10.5k-$7k of the premium in after tax dollars."
And a seven-to-ten thousand difference, to be made up by the employee, scarcely qualifies as "essentially neutral," really.
While I appreciate your position, I have but two words in reply: Dixie Chicks.
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