Subject: [big campaign] Critics Call It 'Go It Alone Approach'
From: "Brad Woodhouse" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:13:57 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

From the Change America Now response event and other progressive
reaction to McCain's HC Speech in FL Yesterday

Bill Newton of the Florida Consumer Action Network said McCain's "go it
alone approach" will make it harder, not easier, for families to get
coverage. His organization and the Service Employees International Union
held a news conference after the speech at the same hotel where McCain
was holding a $2,300-a-person fundraising lunch.
(http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/30/na-mccain-health-care-plan-tax-
credits-for-insuran/) 

However, even as he was delivering his proposals, several organizations
held news conferences to contend they were inadequate. The AFL-CIO and
Florida Consumer Action Network were among them. They criticized McCain
for having voted against expanding the SCHIP health insurance program
for children and said his tax credit would not provide enough help to
allow purchase of health insurance.
(http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/04/mccain-to-make.html) 

McCain Health Care Plan: Tax Credits For Insurance

By WILLIAM MARCH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 30, 2008

TAMPA - Sen. John McCain sketched the outlines of his health care
proposals Tuesday in a major speech in Tampa, pushing a reform program
that seeks to enhance market competition and end reliance on
employer-provided health insurance.

That, he says, will make health care more affordable and health
insurance more accessible.

The heart of McCain's proposal is to offer tax credits of up to $2,500
for individuals and $5,000 for families for purchase of their own health
insurance.

At the same time, he would end the current tax exemption for premiums
that workers pay on employer-provided insurance, seeking to make
individual consumers the ones who choose and pay for their own health
insurance.

"The key to real reform is to restore control over our health care
system to the patients themselves," McCain told a small group of health
care professionals gathered at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center &
Research Institute at the University of South Florida. "Americans need
new choices beyond those offered in employment-based coverage."

He said the plan "would help change the whole dynamic of the current
system, putting individuals and families back in charge, and forcing
companies to respond with better service at lower cost."

McCain has been talking about these ideas for months, but added some
details in what his campaign billed as a major policy speech, the anchor
of a weeklong campaign tour in several states focusing on health care.
The proposal includes:

*Urging states to cooperate, and providing some federal assistance, in
forming Guaranteed Access Plans to try to find "last resort" health
insurance to those who have trouble buying insurance, particularly those
with chronic health conditions.

*Eliminating individual state requirements that health insurance
policies provide specific kinds of coverage. Many states require that
policies cover such specific diseases or procedures such as emergency
room visits, diabetes, colorectal cancer screenings and breast
reconstruction. Those requirements, McCain said, create "a different
health insurance market in every state," and cut competition.

*Further limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, long a popular cause
among Republicans and health care professionals. McCain said a "first
step" is to ban lawsuits against physicians who "follow clinical
guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols."

University of South Florida public health professor Jay Wolfson said
that proposal would require assembling information on the "best
practices" for dealing with specific diseases and injuries, and keeping
the list updated - "a challenge," he said. Physicians would be immune
from lawsuits if they followed those guidelines.

McCain didn't provide any overall cost for his plan, in part because
much of it, including the GAP pools, remains to be designed. Campaign
aides said he will be elaborate on his proposals as time goes on.

Critics Call It 'Go It Alone Approach'

Local Democrats and interest groups who don't like McCain's proposals
reacted quickly to his speech. Union members demonstrated near where
McCain spoke at USF, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, called
reporters to criticize McCain's proposal.

Castor criticized McCain's past positions on health care, including his
vote last year against expanding the State Children's Health Insurance
Program for children whose families are poor but not poor enough for
Medicaid.

McCain opposed a five-year, $35 billion proposal pushed by Democrats to
cover 10 million more children, saying it raised income limits too high,
up to $60,000 for a family of four.

"McCain's prescription is, go to your accountant's office and cash this
in and good luck," she said of the tax credit proposal. She said it's
inadequate because the cost of family insurance nationwide is
approaching $12,000 a year.

Without the tax exemption, "employers are going to find fewer and fewer
reasons to provide it," she said.

Bill Newton of the Florida Consumer Action Network said McCain's "go it
alone approach" will make it harder, not easier, for families to get
coverage. His organization and the Service Employees International Union
held a news conference after the speech at the same hotel where McCain
was holding a $2,300-a-person fundraising lunch.

Oncologist Unsure Tax Break Is Enough

McCain's potential Democratic rivals also took shots.

In a statement from her campaign, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called
McCain's proposal "radical" and said it "means 158 million Americans
with job-based coverage today could be at risk of losing the insurance
they have come to depend upon."

Those with chronic or pre-existing health problems might then have
trouble getting coverage through the last-resort GAP pools, she said.

Sen. Barack Obama called it "a tax break that won't guarantee coverage
and doesn't ensure that health care is affordable for the working
families who need it most."

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's policy adviser, said the $5,000 tax credit
is roughly equal to or greater than the tax benefit employees now get
from the existing exemption, and therefore shouldn't be inadequate.

He said the GAP programs "don't exist yet," and therefore can't be
accused of failing to provide coverage.

Wolfson said McCain's proposal tracks long-standing suggestions by
health care economists who increasingly think consumer pressure is the
only way to force greater efficiency in health care delivery.

Moffitt oncologist William Roberts, in the crowd for McCain's speech,
agreed.

"Competition is the answer," he said. "Insurance prices could go down."

Roberts said he's not sure the size of McCain's tax breaks, $2,500 and
$5,000, is enough to make the plan work.

Wolfson said one drawback, probably temporary, is that the proposal
likely "would create a bit of chaos for a while in the marketplace," as
individuals accustomed to relying on employer-provided plans suddenly
had to shop for their own. Another, he said, is that young, single,
healthy people might neglect to buy insurance, and could be left
unprotected in cases of injury or disease.

McCain acknowledged that the nation's current health care system "falls
far short of ... ideal," with some 47 million individuals lacking health
insurance coverage of any kind, about half of whom are long-term
uninsured.

"In many respects, the system has remained less reliable, less
efficient, more disorganized and prone to error even as it becomes more
expensive," he said. "Rising costs are by no means always accompanied by
better quality in care or coverage."

He vowed he won't "create another entitlement program that Washington
will let get out of control" in order to provide coverage for the
uninsured.

Reporter William March can be reached at [email-masked] or (813)
259-7761.

McCain In Tampa: Tax Credits Would Help Pay For Health Insurance
Posted Apr 29, 2008 by William March
Updated Apr 29, 2008 at 03:34 PM 

In a speech at Moffitt Cancer Center today, presumptive Republican
presidential nominee John McCain outlined his proposals on health care:
A tax credit that he said would help individuals buy insurance if they
have no employer provided insurance. 

Tampa Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

McCain proposed a $5,000 credit for families and $2,500 credit for
individuals. He also proposed a system of state-run last-resort insurer
programs that, along with federal assistance would seek to find private
insurance for those who can't get it because of pre-existing health
conditions. 

McCain also spoke in favor of the standard proposal of Republicans for
solving health care problems, more limits on malpractice and personal
injury lawsuits.  However, even as he was delivering his proposals,
several organizations held news conferences to contend they were
inadequate. The AFL-CIO and Florida Consumer Action Network were among
them. They criticized McCain for having voted against expanding the
SCHIP health insurance program for children and said his tax credit
would not provide enough help to allow purchase of health insurance. 

 

Brad Woodhouse, President

Americans United for Change

202-470-5858 

202-251-5669 (cell)

[email-masked]

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