McCain’s healthcare plan; created by the healthcare industry
April 29th, 2008 | by Dusty |
I know McCain isn’t stupid..but for the love of Buddha wtf is the deal with asking healthcare industry lobbyists to craft a plan for him? From CAF we get this lil tidbit:
McCain and his handlers knew they had to say something about health care. So they turned to their friends (and financial supporters) in the health care industry and the conservative think tanks. And they have adopted the most extreme right-wing ideological approach, premised on the idea that the big problem in health care is that Americans have too much insurance - in their words, we don’t have enough “skin in the game” - and that only when we have to buy health care with money that comes directly out of our own pockets will consumers force doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to become more efficient.
Tax credits…the asshole wants to give us all tax credits so we can buy our own insurance. Of course many of us have pre-existing conditions..so McCain will make the states set up an insurance pool for people like me. As for his tax credits..here is the amount he is offering from a CNN writeup:
Under McCain’s heath care plan, individuals would be eligible for a $2,500 credit and families a $5,000 credit to help pay for health insurance if they do not subscribe to, or do not have access to, employer-provided health care coverage. The government would send the money directly to insurers
.I know for a fact that 2500 bucks isn’t enough to give ANYONE decent healthcare coverage. Who is this fuckwit kidding? Also take into account he wants to tax health care premiums that are paid for by employers. How is this progress? This will cause most, if not all employers to refuse to provide healthcare insurance for their employees. Again from the CAF writeup:
But McCain, like George Bush, pays more attention to ultra-conservative theory than he does to the facts. So McCain wants to tax workers’ health care premiums that are paid for by employers. Ask any expert, conservative or liberal, and they will tell you the result will be companies will stop providing health care as an employee benefit. Fortune Magazine quotes one of their experts on the impact of McCain’s plan: “I predict that most companies would stop paying for health care in three to four years,” says Robert Laszewski, a consultant who works with corporate benefits managers.
Friggin Rethuglicans…god forbid they actually help the consumer instead of their pals in the healthcare industry. Thi bullshit plan will force families and individuals to find their own healthcare plans and forgo the usual discount offered to group plan participants. Fuck his tax credit too.. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study the average cost a year for group plan coverage is…$11,765. McCain’s fucking tax credit wouldn’t even cover half of that.
Fuck me running..this is an outrage and he knows it. It’s a blatant ploy to make his buddies in the healthcare industry richer whilst screwing the living hell out of Americans.
Crossposted at Sirens Chronicles
19 Responses to “McCain’s healthcare plan; created by the healthcare industry”
By Chris Radulich on Apr 29, 2008 | Reply
If you are too poor to pay taxes, how do tax credits help you?
By Dusty on Apr 29, 2008 | Reply
I was wondering that too Christopher
By manapp99 on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
If your too poor to pay taxes you already have free insuranace. It’s called Medicaid.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Manapp, if that was true, then there wouldn’t be tens of millions of uninsured people.
JMJ
By Jersey McJones on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Hey guys, how come I’m not on your blogroll???
JMJ
By manapp99 on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Chris did not say too poor to buy insurance, he said too poor to pay taxes. I was responding to his comment. If you are too poor to pay taxes you are very likely eligible for medicaid.
BTW, there are those who are eligible for medicaide or schip that do not apply. That was part of the reason that Bush did not expand SCHIP as they cannot reach 95% enrollment for those currently eligible. How many of those elibible that do not partake of availible options are counted in the millions of uninsured?
By Jersey McJones on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Whatever, Manapp. All I know is that we are the only First World nation STUPID enough to still be with universal healthcare. Stupidest. People. Ever.
JMJ
By Dusty on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Um, that is total bullshit Manapp. I do not have insurance and yet, I do not pay taxes. Each state has a different formula for figuring out who qualifies dude.
My employer doesn’t offer insurance, yet I supposedly make too much money to get the state medical insurance.There are millions of people that find themselves in this situation.
By Chris Radulich on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
a family of 2 ( child under 1, head of house hold) can make 21000 a year. Using turbo tax and only entering the wages and no withholdings, this results in a refund of $377. So would this person get a tax credit on top of that?
By Jet Netwal on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Jersey, what’s your URL?
By Chris Radulich on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
just read the times and got my answer.
“Those tax credits would be refundable, meaning that low-income people who do not pay income taxes would still be eligible to receive it.”
So my hypothetical family would get a refund of $5,337.00.
However this plan would increase the cost to a lot of people that have health insurance now. While I have no problem with paying more in principle, this plan does not meet my gaol of universal coverage. In fact, I believe it will only make thing worse
By Dusty on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
PBS is running a Frontline special on Capitalist countries and their healthcare systems. Watch it online here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
Chris, that comes out to $444 a month for health insurance. That won’t cover the entire premiums for your hypothetical family.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Thanks Jet - it’s http://jerseymcjones.blogspot.com/
JMJ
By Jet Netwal on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
np. Don’t you look pretty up there?
By Jersey McJones on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
LOL! Too bad you couldn’t get my face up there! Now THAT would be pretty! LOL!
JMJ
By Jet Netwal on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
You’ve got a one in a million mug there, kid.
By Dusty on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Factcheck.org has thiis to say about McCain’s ‘plan’:
McCain says in a new TV ad: “Let’s give every American family a $5,000 refundable tax credit” to buy health insurance.
Sounds good. But McCain failed to mention how existing employer-sponsored health benefits would be affected.
* Employers could no longer deduct the cost of health plans for their workers, which several experts say is likely to cause companies to reduce or eliminate health benefits for their employees.
* Workers would be taxed on the value of any employer-paid health benefits, partially offsetting the $5,000 credit for those now covered by such plans.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccains_5000_promise.html
By Jersey McJones on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Dusty, that’s exactly what this is: McCain is proposing ending employer sponsored healthcare without replacing it with universal care. He has actually found a way to make the system worse! Amazing! McCains reform is to healthcare what Bush’s reform was to education - an effort to destroy and end a public institution. And what’s worse, McCain is destroying an institution that hasn’t even been born. He’s demanding a Healthcare Abortion. So much for “Pro-Life.”
After everything we’ve seen lately - food, water, energy, capital, healthcare shortages, serious and widespread shortages - when the *&^^%$$%#$#@#@! hell are these people going to get it??? We have to keep pounding on their skulls until they do.
Teach a man to not burn a fish for his SUV with the Jesus Fish magnet and maybe he’ll learn to eat it.
JMJ
By Dusty on May 1, 2008 | Reply
I tend to believe that until we remove the ‘money-making’ capitalist aspect of healthcare nothing is really going to change.