McCain's health plan: A threat to employer plans?

By KEVIN FREKING and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers 45 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - There's a great unknown about Sen. John McCain's health plan: How many employers would drop insurance coverage for their workers because of his tax policies?
The Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting has proposed that everyone buying health insurance get a refundable tax credit, $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families. At the same time, he would treat employer contributions toward health insurance like income, meaning workers would have to pay income, but not payroll, taxes on it.

McCain's health plan: A threat to employer plans? - Yahoo! News

Of the two, I definitely like Obama's plan better. John McCain's healthcare plan can be summed up in three words: don't get sick. $2500 would pay roughly two month's premium on a solid health insurance plan.

Ideally, I'd like to see a single payer healthcare plan in this country that covers each and every American. However, neither candidate is offering that. It's too bad, too.....because as long as big insurance has their greedy paws in our wallets, truly affordable healthcare will continue to be unattainable.

OMG
what insurance policy costs 15,000 per year??????

That's about what the 'top flight' plan goes for up here in Maine. I've been paying for an individual policy for about six months now and it's around $1,100 a month for the top tier plan. And I'm 45, don't smoke, and am in relatively good health.

Of course, one can pick up a cheaper plan but you kind of get what you pay for. The copays are higher and the deductible is anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 a year. A lot of money has to be shelled out before your premium is worth the price.

In Maine one big insurance company has the monopoly on the individual health insurance market - Anthem BCBS. You either buy it from them or you don't buy it at all. There is no competition.

It's come down to choosing between letting insurance companies do pretty much whatever they like (McCain), and mandating that people become customers to the insurance industry (Obama). Either way, 2008 looks like a good year for insurance companies.

I hear you, Katczinsky. I worked in health insurance for almost 20 year. I've seen, first-hand, the evils of big insurance. Single payer is the way to go. Too bad the only candidate who endorsed single payer (Kucinich) was never seriously in the running.

Obama's plan will certainly be better than what we have now. However, people are going to find out that truly affordable healthcare isn't possible as long as big insurance still has their hand in our wallets.