Posted on 10/06/2008 7:34:01 PM PDT by markedmannerf
With less than a month to go, presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to deliver a knock-out punch by hitting John McCain on health care.
On Saturday Mr. Obama called his rival's health-care proposal "radical" and, in swing states, he is now blasting it in TV ads. Mr. Obama is also distributing mailers and organizing "Docs for Barack" meetings to rally voters.
It's good politics for Mr. Obama. But it's bad policy. Mr. McCain's proposal -- to give every American the tax credit businesses get for buying health insurance -- is the right prescription for what ails our health-care system.
The foundation of that system -- employer provided health insurance -- is crumbling. For decades, the percentage of Americans who get their health insurance at work has been shrinking. In August, the Census Bureau reported that the decline continues. Today, 59% of Americans get their health insurance through the workplace. Twenty years ago, three-quarters of us did. With costs skyrocketing -- health-insurance premiums roughly doubled since 2000 -- the current path we are on is not sustainable.
Mr. McCain recognizes that a large part of the problem is that the tax code favors employer-funded health insurance. The system, which began as a response to FDR's wage and price controls, is built on tax breaks that allow employers to buy health insurance with pretax dollars.
Mr. McCain doesn't want to scrap employer-based insurance. He would keep part of the tax deduction in place. But he wants to fundamentally change the way the system works and instead give the self-employed and individuals a tax break for buying their own insurance. There are several advantages to this approach:
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
McCain has got to find ways to better tout his policy... he needs articulate, reason, and narrate his policies... nothing is sticking...
The government pays for about 40% of all healthcare currently.
We have a greatly distotered market, dominated by mega companies that would greatly profit under any Obama plan, in a literally life and death replay of today’s financial market problems.
The tools that allow people to shop for care are coming quickly. Let markets ration by letting people shop. That’s what markets do.
I like this idea. It would be great to not stay in a job just for insurance. Plus if you wanted to retire early you could afford health insurance. A fear and a problem for many.
I would love to have a sign or pamplet that stated my fees to my patients. It would work much better. As it is now it would probably be aganist the law.
You're right. Big problems with articulating it are (1) the plan is very innovative, especially considering that it's coming from a Washington "mainstream" politician and (2) the large majority of voters have never been exposed to anything approaching a free market in health care nor are astute enough to grasp the favorable consequences of increased competition in the health care insurance industry.
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