John McCain’s Health Care Flim Flam

5:30 pm EST September 16th, 2008 | News | 5 Comments

Senator McCain, the temperature of your pants has exceeded the manufacturer’s recommended conditions.

Senator John McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, recently said in a conference call with reporters that Mr. McCain’s health care proposal would ‘put 25 to 30 million individuals out of the ranks of the uninsured, into the ranks of the insured.’ In an article released Tuesday, a panel of prominent health economists concludes that Mr. Holtz-Eakin’s projection is off by, well, 25 to 30 million.

The article, published in the journal Health Affairs, argues that ‘initially there would be no real change in the number of people covered as a result of the McCain plan.’

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5 Responses to “John McCain’s Health Care Flim Flam”

  1. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 16, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    I’m really surprised that I haven’t seen anyone talking about the total cost of the McCain plan. He’s proposing a refundable tax credit for every woman, child, and man in America.

    We’re talking half a trillion dollars a year here.

    Now at the outset, his plan gains a good bit of that revenue by taxing employer paid health benefits as regular income. But if, as expected, people move away from employer provided benefits into the private insurance market, that source of revenue dries up.

  2. Sean D. Martin says:
    September 16, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    “initially there would be no real change in the number of people covered as a result of the McCain plan.” After a short-term reduction of 1 million in the number of people without coverage, the number of uninsured would increase by 5 million after five years, the authors predict. There are currently 45 million people without insurance, or 15 percent of the population, according to the Census Bureau.

    No need to leave out the second part of the quote. It makes it look like you want to distort and paint only the worst possible picture.

    The plan still sucks and McCain is still a liar. You don’t need to resort even slightly to Republican-type tactics to emphasize your point.

  3. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 16, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    No need to leave out the second part of the quote. It makes it look like you want to distort and paint only the worst possible picture.

    Worst possible picture? Heck, I thought OW was giving him the benefit of the doubt. “No real change” is better than “5 million more uninsured.”

  4. Sean D. Martin says:
    September 16, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    “5 million more uninsured.”

    Wouldja believe I actually read that as “5 million more insured“? Far less than the 25 to 30 million McCain was claiming, hence his still being a bald faced liar. But at least some improvement over the current state, which is why I thought the full quote should have been presented.

    Excuse me now while I slink off to work on my reading comprehension skills… (Oy, the day I’m having.)

  5. jr says:
    September 16, 2008 at 10:15 pm

    “despite beign worth 100 million I’m taking government insurance but you shouldn’t want it”-John McCain