There’s a new study out regarding the health care crisis and how to deal with it. Critical discussion of both the McCain and Obama plans ensues at Ezra Klein’s blog.
The big takeaway from the McCain proposal:
McCain’s health care plan would increase taxes on employer based health insurance and price 20 million plus Americans out of the coverage they currently rely on. In return, he’d give them a tax credit that is not indexed to health costs, and will become worthless as the years pass. He’d push them into the individual market, where higher administrative costs and underwriting practices mean that if individuals try to purchase the exact policy offered by their employers, they will pay $2,000 more per year. In addition, the sick can be turned away, and the state regulations that ensure some minimum level of benefits will be dismantled.
And on Obama’s plan:
And so the Obama campaign, for all the gestures to the contrary, does not seriously control costs. It does integrate the system further, and do more to offer health security. And it implements a structure which, like Medicare, could prove incredibly effective at restraining spending growth. But it does not flip the switch.
My take is that it really comes down to the question – Do you think too many people have healthcare or not enough?
McCain’s plan provides disincentives for employers to offer health insurance so that individuals go out into the market to negotiate with United Health Group on their own without the negotiating power of all their fellow employees behind them.
Obama’s plan helps everyone who wants health insurance to afford their premiums but doesn’t do much to control the costs of the actual healthcare. That is clearly not a long term solution.