Here's a factoid; 59% of all doctors according to the AMA are in favor of single payer healthcare. Ralph Nader is the ONLY candidate proposing single-payer healthcare. Fact Aetna charges 38% for administration. Blue Cross/Blue Shield Medicare charges only about 4% administrative cost. Does anyone get the picture here??Check out other issues that are off the table for Obama and McCain at voteNader.org...Who's the real progressive here??
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The McCain campaign has claimed its plan pays for itself, but both the Lewin Group and TPC studies say it comes nowhere close to doing that. McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin had said this spring that the proposal would bring in $3.6 trillion over 10 years, making the plan "budget neutral." However, a March 2007 report by the Joint Committee on Taxation found that government revenue would increase by that much if employees had to pay both income taxes and the FICA (payroll taxes) on their health benefits. The McCain campaign says it won't touch payroll taxes. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Holtz-Eakin now says McCain would cut Medicare and Medicaid by an unspecified amount to make the plan "budget neutral."
Yet another Obama TV ad, titled "Unravel," misleadingly highlights McCain's tax on health benefits but leaves out completely the part about the tax credit. It then says that McCain's plan "would raise costs for employers offering health care, so your coverage could be reduced or even dropped completely." The McCain plan doesn't impose added costs directly on employers, as that claim implies. It is true that health experts say costs could rise for some businesses, primarily smaller companies, if young and healthy employees buy their own plans on the private market, leaving older, less-healthy and expensive-to-insure workers in company health plans.
McCain has repeatedly claimed that "small businesses" would be fined if they failed to provide coverage for their employees under Obama's plan: "If you're a small business person and you don't insure your employees, Sen. Obama will fine you. Will fine you," he charged at the Oct. 7 debate. That's not true. Obama's plan says small businesses would be exempt from the pay-or-play requirement and could receive a tax credit to help pay for premiums, if they choose to cover workers.
Republished with permission from factcheck.org.
Sources
McCain, John. "Straight Talk on Health System Reform." JohnMcCain.com, accessed 10 Oct. 2008.
McCain, John. "The Facts about the McCain-Palin Health Care Plan." JohnMcCain.com, accessed 10 Oct. 2008.
Sack, Kevin and Michael Cooper. "McCain Health Plan Could Mean Higher Tax." New York Times, 1 May 2008.
Burman, Leonard E., et.al. "An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans: Updated September 12, 2008." Tax Policy Center, 12 Sept. 2008.
"McCain's Middle Class Tax Hike." Center for American Progress Action Fund, 25 Aug. 2008.
Estimating the Revenue Effects of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2008 Proposal Providing a Standard Deduction for Health Insurance: Modeling and Assumptions, JCX-17-07. Joint Committee on Taxation, 20 March 2007.
Sheils, John. "McCain and Obama Health Policies: Costs and Coverage Compared." The Lewin Group, 8 Oct. 2008.
Health Insurance Coverage of the Total Population, states (2006-2007), U.S. (2007). Kaiser Family Foundation, statehealthfacts.org, accessed 10 Oct. 2008.
Obama, Barack. "Plan for a Healthy America." BarackObama.com, accessed 10 Oct. 2008.
Meckler, Laura. "McCain Plans Federal Health Cuts." Wall Street Journal, 6 Oct. 2008.
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