Is John McCain's answer to the problems with our healthcare system a joke?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/ts_nm/usa_politics_mccain_dc

Come one $2500 tax incentive for individuals and $5000 for families is a drop in the bucket if you consider the cost of healthcare insurance in this country. $2500 a year is a little more than $100 a month. What an insult when you consider that healthcare insurance for an individual would cost over $600 if bought privately. For a family of 2 it is more than $1100 a month. That $5000 a year is just over $200 amonth. Again nothing but chump change being thrown at the American people to buy healthcare insurance that most people cannot afford to buy in the first place. Geeesuz, we are forking over billions if not trillions of dollars for this war and for the profits of the oil industry, Halliburton, the military industrial corporate complex, and Blackwater. And, we the people get nothing but chump change thrown back at us for our families and our communities. And, it's our money they are spending for this needless war.

I stand corrected.
That's a little over $200 for the $2500 a year tax credit. And, a little over $400 for the $5000 a year tax credit.
Both are still drops in a bucket especially with large deductables most people still have to pay.

netj.... As for that so called $59 a month health insurance deal you supposedly got in the mail, read the fine print on that add. I bet it is a scam.

Answer 1

McCain's Tax Credit is little more than a subsidy for Private Insurers. It won't stop Health Care costs from escalating and it won't make Health Insurance any more available. A couple of years into the program, Insurance Rates will go up by the ammount of the credit and the extra cash will go into Executive Compensation, like it always does.

And you're right, a $2500 tax credit isn't going to help much when Insurance for a family of 4 costs nearly as much as the after tax Median Income. (Which for you Republicans out there, is what half of American Families make less than.)

Private Insurers aren't part of the solution--they're most of the problem. Until we go to a National Health Program that's free to use it's purchasing clout to beat down drug prices, costs will continue to rise and hospitals and clinics will continue to go out of business due to the large numbers of uninsured, and the huge number of insurance claim denials.

It's bad enough when government and providers have to pick up the cost of uninsured patients. When patients WITH insurance get stiffed, it gets to be too much.

Answer 2

I couldn't agree more! This dovetails with the opposition from Bush et al on S-CHIP, too, which they predicate on the notion that families making $70K to $80K can easily afford insurance for their own children - while neglecting the incremental per-person cost of $500-$1000 per month on most private plans.

Answer 3

Let me tell you I just spent an hour trying to get a quote for health insurance.
Single female
Keystone (bc/bs hmo) with a $20 office co-pay/ $40/specialists , $400 per day hospitalization is $256/mo.
It doesn't matter if I'm healthy or how much I make. This is it take it or leave it.
I even looked into Keystone Mercy (ma plan) I couldn't make more than $400/mo to qualify.

So, what should I give up paying: rent, utilities, food, credit card bills or car payments?

Answer 4

You make some decent points but $2500/year is a little more than $200/mo not $100. I like the tax credit idea better than most but we do need to look at how much is reasonable and will also help.........

Answer 5

People with insurance are sometimes asked to fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for care with a major illness. We have people dying in hospitals, waits for doctors, and people with insurance being denied procedures and treatments. The current system does not work--even for the insured.

I am extraordinarily lucky with my work making a commitment to only charge employees 2% of their earnings toward insurance, but I know people who pay private insurance for their families in a bill that is larger than their mortgage.

Answer 6

The best way is to eliminate the federal income tax. That will free up cash for individuals and families to pay for their health care.

It will remove the headache of having to do the dreaded tax returns, and it will free up billions of dollars for the government which has been paying to the IRS. Good for the taxpayers on both counts.

So, better yet, vote for Ron Paul who will do all of the above.

http://www.myspace.com/ronpaul2008

Answer 7

Let me start by saying that your "Needless War" is your Opinion.

I am with you about some points that you're saying but its always been like this. We the people never get enough from any president or government and not only Bush's.

Answer 8

Wow I guess that flyer I just got in the mail offering me catastrophic coverage for $59 a month is a joke....oh but wait its not.

Answer 9

A family of four at my company pays $800/month (or $9,600/year) for basic health care coverage that has a $4,000 deductable that has to be fulfilled first.

McCain's $5000/year tax credit for families is a joke.

Answer 10

A tax deduction doesn't help someone who doesn't pay taxes at the end of the year (the poor and lower middle class who have taxes deducted from their paycheck), but it does help the rich and upper income folks. Do you think that's the reason he proposed it?