McCain's Crappy Health Care Plan

See McCain's health care plan below. It is an insurance company's dream! Individuals have absolutely NO CHANCE of getting a sweeter insurance deal than corporations who get group insurance, assist in getting discount contracts with providers, who are savvy to the health insurance market, who have an incentive to get the biggest bang for their buck.

Individuals have no clout to force improved service, no insider knowledge, no understanding of how insurance plans work, no underwriting leverage, no discount contracts. Furthermore, individuals will have the tendency to buy the cheapest health insurance they can, meaning that the industry would go back to what was once called "indemnity major medical," meaning major emergency coverage only (the highest profit insurance for insurers). Anyone with a history of health problems will get reamed by this plan! Underwriters, knowing an individual’s health history, will only offer plans with huge premiums because individuals have no group with which to share the burden with like a corporation does. Individuals with typically good health will simply not buy insurance (which makes it worse for the people who do because only sick people will buy insurance, driving the costs up).

The "tax credit" is just mumbo-jumbo, it simply will not do the job. Insurers will eat it up. A "non-profit" plan to help pre-existing conditions already exists. It’s called Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and they've been unable to keep costs down. (By the way, insurance companies, though they are as inefficient as any big industry, has relatively modest profit margins, <4%).>

This is, simply put, the WORST POSSIBLE thing that we could do in America for health care.

McCain unveils new health care plan

Posted: 08:00 AM ET

(CNN) –-A tax credit to help individuals and families buy health insurance will be at the heart of a health care proposal Sen. John McCain is expected to unveil Tuesday.

The credits will spark greater competition among insurance providers and put “individuals and families back in charge” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will say during a speech in Tampa, Florida, according to excerpts of his speech released by his campaign.

Millions of Americans would be making their own health care choices again,” McCain will say, according to the prepared text of the speech. “Insurance companies could no longer take your business for granted, offering narrow plans with escalating costs.”

In McCain's plan, individuals will be eligible for a $2,500 credit and families a $5,000 credit to help buy health insurance if they do not subscribe to health insurance provided by an employer. The government would directly send the money to insurers.

McCain will also propose that the government set up a non-profit Guaranteed Access Plan to provide coverage to individuals who are denied coverage from private insurers due to pre-existing conditions.