McCain Sharpens Health Care Plan

McCain Sharpens Health Care Plan in Politics and Legislation

This week, Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain laid out more details of his health care reform plan.

Initially Senator McCain planned on focusing his health care reform efforts on cost control through better care for chronic health conditions and encouraging retail health care clinics, which provide care at a lower cost.

Now in addition to that, the Arizona senator is proposing to bring more Americans into the individual health insurance marketplace with tax credits. McCain would offer families a $5,000 tax credit to help them purchase a health plan. Individuals would get $2,500.

The biggest change Senator McCain would make to the current health insurance system is that he would get rid of the tax breaks given to employers who provide their workers with coverage.

This would mean many businesses would stop offering health benefits, and more people would have to find insurance on their own. 

McCain’s advisors say eliminating the employer tax break would increase government revenue $3.6 trillion in 10 years — which would be redirected as the tax credits for individuals and families, reported The New York Times.

With more consumers in the market, Senator McCain explains, the increased competition would drive down the overall cost of health insurance.

McCain also wants to let people purchase plans across state lines to increase competition even further.

Senator McCain acknowledged some with certain pre-existing health conditions may not be able to find private coverage. That’s why he will push states to start up high-risk insurance pools, and offer federal funding for the pools.

“I’ll work tirelessly to address the problem,” said Senator McCain in a speech in Florida.

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