Here is a handy item from the NPR Fresh Air page from Tuesday's good program featuring an interview with Jonathan Oberlander, author of The Political Life of Medicare:
Comparing The Plans
McCain: He would replace the current tax-free status of health insurance coverage provided by employers with refundable tax credits worth $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to help purchase insurance. McCain would allow the sale of insurance policies across state lines, rather than state by state, as is currently the case.If the McCain plan were to be enacted in this form, a lot of people would get very rude shocks in their paychecks: huge increases in their top-line income, but even larger deductions for taxes + premiums resulting in lower take-home pay.
Obama: He would create a new plan for those who lack other access to coverage, as well as a National Health Insurance Exchange to help pool the purchasing power of small businesses and individuals. Obama would also offer a combination of subsidies and tax credits to help make coverage more affordable. He would mandate health insurance coverage for children, but not adults. Obama would create a federally sponsored health insurance plan, similar to Medicare, that would compete with private plans for those under age 65.
I know of a local public agency where the full-time staff would each see under McCain a net loss of in take-home pay under this plan because the $5,000 credit would not quite cover the increase in taxes. Of course, not everybody gets such a full-paid plan in a state with premiums as expensive as they are in Maine. But workers who have struggled to win good benefits will be the ones hurt the worst by McCain. Furthermore, as premiums escalate, the credit would begin to fall further short in covering the tax increase.
Why aren't the Democrats singing these facts about the McCain plan and the obvious superiority of the Obama plan from the highest mountain?
One last question, does McCain's Maine co-chair, Senator Susan Collins, support this quite radical McCain plan?
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