In a previous post on the presidential candidates’ health insurance reform plans, we wrote Republican candidate John McCain would only cover 2 million new Americans under his proposal.
Those numbers were from a report conducted by the liberal-leaning Commonwealth Fund.
But there’s a competing report by The Lewin Group (not sure where their political bias leans) that showed Senator McCain’s plan would knock off 21 million Americans off the uninsured list by 2019, reported the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.
How would McCain’s plan hit this 21 million number?
The report estimated that close to 24 million people would use the tax credit provide by the federal government under McCain’s plan and buy their own individual health insurance plans in the private market.
It was conceded that around 16 million would lose their group health insurance plan with their employers. But the report thought some new businesses would jump in and offer health insurance for the first time, which would offset at least a part of that 16 million workers who lost coverage.
The study, though, was met with some skepticism.
The biggest argument against the Lewin Group’s report is that it doesn’t account for people being denied coverage in the private market because of pre-existing health conditions.
But the Lewin Group acknowledged that is accounted for in their report.
“The people who are sick are going to have a lot of trouble affording coverage, even with the credit, ” said Lewin Group Vice President, John Sheils.
Sheils said that roughly half of those who are uninsured today are Americans between the ages of 19 to 34. That’s the group where the McCain plan will make up the biggest number from those who lost employer coverage, argued Sheils.
It’s an interesting report, but our first reaction is that their numbers might be inflated.
Agree? Disagree?