Health Care Spin

For 2008, the average cost for a family's employer-sponsored health care plan is $12,680. A $5,000 credit would be enough to cover the added federal income taxes a family would face on that plan, no matter what tax bracket the family is in. If the average were to rise to $13,300 next year, a typical middle-income family in the 25 percent tax bracket would still face an added tax bill of only $3,325, and after getting their tax credit would still have $1,675 left over to put into a health savings account to pay for such things as deductibles, co-payments and prescriptions. Describing that as "the largest middle-class tax increase in history" is a gross deception.

McCain-Palin and RNC Radio Ad
First announcer: Who is Barack Obama? His health care plan shows us the truth. Obama's plan costs taxpayers hundreds of billions; it limits patient choice and rations care. Experts predict Obama's expensive employer mandates' added costs will rob 50 million employees of their health coverage. That's not a health care plan. That's an economic disaster.

Second announcer: Congressional liberals support government-run healthcare; congressional liberals want bureaucrats, not doctors, to control your care. Bureaucrats will decide what health procedure you can get and when you get it. Congressional liberals pay for it with new income taxes, payroll taxes, a tax on your stock transactions. That's a plan for tragedy. With Barack Obama and Congressional liberals, big government health care is on its way.

Paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.

The Republicans are no better. The McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee are running a 60-second radio spot that says Obama's plan would "rob 50 million employees of their health care." That's false. It's a complete misrepresentation of a Lewin Group study of another health care plan entirely, one put forth by the liberal Economic Policy Institute, not by Obama.

Even so, the ad grossly mischaracterizes the analysis. What the study actually says is that nearly 52 million people would shift from private coverage through their employers to being covered by a national insurance pool, with employers still contributing to the cost through a payroll tax, which would be cheaper for some employers than paying premiums directly. The study actually shows that not a single person would be "rob[bed] … of their health care." Far from it. The plan "would reduce the number of uninsured by about 97.3 percent, leaving 1.3 million people uninsured." But again, that's not Obama's plan.

The Lewin Group's study of Obama's plan projects that 1.5 million of those who now have employer-provided benefits would become uninsured in 2010, while a greater number – 4.3 million – would be uninsured under McCain's. Both the Lewin Group study and the Tax Policy Center's find there would be a net increase in the number of those with benefits at their jobs under Obama's plan, and a net decrease under McCain's.

The radio ad goes on to say that "Congressional liberals" want "government-run health care" in which "bureaucrats will decide what health procedures you can get and when you get it." That might have been a valid criticism of the Canadian-style national health plan supported by Rep. Dennis Kucinich and a few others. But Obama got the Democratic nomination, and his plan isn't anything like that.

The ad also charges that Obama's plan "costs taxpayers hundreds of billions." It's worth noting that the Lewin Group analysis found the net cost of McCain's plan to be $880 billion higher than Obama's over 10 years.

More Misleading Claims
In ads and on the stump, McCain and Obama have put forth other incorrect statements on their health care plans:

Another Obama-Biden ad tells viewers that "McCain's own Web site said [the tax credit] goes straight to the insurance companies, not to you. Leaving you on your own to pay McCain's health insurance tax." Technically, that is what the Web site says, and voters who visit the site may be confused on this point. (In fact, McCain's main health care page doesn't tell voters that they'll pay income taxes on job-provided health benefits.) Still, this line of attack from the Obama camp makes no sense whatsoever for those who keep their insurance at their jobs. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told us that the exact mechanics haven't been determined, but a McCain administration would work with the IRS and the Treasury Department to make sure the credit paid for income taxes in such cases.