If Healthcare will remain in the hands of the Free Market, then McCain was right

[leftstreet]

“Bringing costs under control is the only way to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance,” McCain says on his website. A McCain spokesman adds, “You worry about the uninsured, but they are a symptom of a larger problem. Unless you do something about cost, you are chasing your proverbial tail.”

McCain, in contrast, would attempt to promote greater competition among private health insurers. He would allow people to buy insurance plans across state lines, which will help drive down rates. And he would try to shift away from our current employment-based insurance system toward a system where individuals purchase and own their own insurance plans. He would do this by replacing the current tax break for employer-provided insurance with a refundable $2,500 tax credit for individuals, and $5,000 for families. The idea is that once people start to buy their own insurance, they’ll be in a position to insist on lower prices and higher quality - just as they do with every other product they buy.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/12/opinion/main3930286.shtml

It's capitalism, baby!

If my healthcare is nothing but a product, then sell it to me like an iPod.

And shove your Mandates!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Yes. Health care is a product. Like food. n/t

[opihimoimoi]

2. fUCK mCcANE, HE IS OUTTA TOUCH

[laughingliberal]

3. The worst thing about McCain's plan was to allow them to sell across state lines

Regardless of the language, I know it will lead to a weakening of regulations in states which keep the insurance companies under control. I'm not sure my state forces much from the insurance companies but I do know whenever I threatened one with our state insurance commissioner, they shaped up.

Okay, here's what occurred to me the other day would, actually, have been the positive aspects of McCain's plan. 1) It would have broken the employer based system that has decreased our businesses competitiveness and kept wages low as employers struggled to keep up with rising costs of benefit packages. Having health insurance would not have had to be a consideration when you wanted to change jobs or start a little business of your own. 2) Recognizing that it would, likely, have changed the tax credits he proposed actually would have made health insurance more affordable for middle class families (who will fall outside the guidelines for the subsidies in the bill they are about to pass).

Downsides are 1) not much help for the poor 2) Not much regulation of the insurance companies

But add a Medicaid expansion. Tax the rich and lift the cap on the payroll tax to pay for it. Stir in a little regulation for the insurance industry and it could have flown without a mandate, I think.