Senator John McCain unveiled his health care plan on Tuesday.
The senator believes that America should move away from the current system of employer-based coverage, and individuals should purchase their own health insurance plans.
To offset part of the cost, he would offer a $2,500 tax rebate to individuals and a $5,000 tax rebate to families.
Greg Denier of Change to Win, a coalition representing 7 unions across the US, commented on how McCain’s plan will affect the average American.
Story Transcript
VOICEOVER: Senator John McCain shared a detailed version of his health care proposal on Tuesday. McCain believes that Americans should purchase their own health insurance plans with a tax rebate to offset part of the cost. McCain also thinks the cost of private health insurance would then go down as insurers would compete to offer the lowest cost.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): The value of that credit, $2,500 for individuals, $5,000 for families, would also be enhanced by the greater competition this reform would help create among insurance companies.
VOICEOVER: Though McCain suggests $2,500 as a tax rebate; health care advocates know that the average annual premium for individual coverage last year was more than $4,400. McCain also calls for the creation of personal health savings accounts. We asked Change to Win, a coalition of southern unions, to comment on McCain’s health care plan.
GREG DENIER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, CHANGE TO WIN: Senator McCain’s health care plan is neither a real plan, nor does it really provide health care for working families in the United States. It is a tax credit plan. [It] is not sufficient to allow an average working family to buy any acceptable health insurance at all, and for many workers, it simply will leave them without the current insurance they have. We need a reform that would require all employers to provide health insurance, or would be a single-payer plan, or some form of universal coverage. Senator McCain’s plan simply abandons any role that the government would have in regulating the insurance markets or ensuring that there would be universal care, that there’d be standard benefits, and that there would be a measure of affordability. What happens in the marketplace now is people try to buy the cheapest insurance, which in some ways is the worst insurance. Those insurance plans have very high deductibles; do not cover many of the wellness benefits, so it forces people to make poor health care choices. So you put off needed care, you put off preventive care. McCain’s non-plan simply exacerbates that situation.
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