McCain's Med Plan Offers Consumers More Long-Term Choice...

By Editorial, Rocky Mountain News October 13, 2008
Article Excerpt: Click here to read entire post.

If there's one issue Coloradans have been intently listening to in the season of never-ending political debates - besides the economy, of course - it's probably health care. A new Census Bureau report, after all, reveals that nearly one in five Coloradans under age 65 lack health insurance. The number jumps to 35 percent when only counting the Hispanic community. And while that doesn't mean every one of those residents is in financial straits because of health care costs, one catastrophic medical crisis can send a family to the poorhouse. Both political parties and their candidates are quick to agree that America's health care system is fractured. Both John McCain and Barack Obama are touting preventive care and better information technology to cut costs, and have proposed safety nets (though markedly different) to cover the hard-to-insure, such as patients with pre-existing conditions. That's where the agreement stops. How can voters wade through the health care rhetoric to pick the best offered solution? If you're uninsured, your focus is on securing adequate coverage. If you're insured, you want to know whether proposals will ding your wallet or the quality and scope of your coverage. In either case, you probably value some degree of choice. If that's a high priority, we'd recommend John McCain's plan. Barack Obama's plan extols choice, too, but over time leads in another direction. McCain's health care proposal hinges on a $5,000 tax credit for families ($2,500 for individuals) under which individuals could either keep their current insurance or go out and buy coverage, even shopping across state lines to get the best rates. And under McCain's plan, if you don't spend the entire allotted amount on coverage, the remainder can be deposited in Health Savings Accounts (which McCain wants to expand). The Obama plan, meanwhile, gives birth to a bouncing new bureaucracy: the National Health Insurance Exchange, which would offer private policies and a public insurance plan "based on benefits available to members of Congress" - generous benefits, in other words. All wanting insurance in the public plan would have to be covered under the same premium, without regard to lifestyle choices such as smoking that increase health risks. Obama's plan purports to maintain personal choice - and to some exent does at first - but a growing entitlement program will almost certainly crowd private insurers out of the market.