BTW, on his website, Obama writes that he will pay for the health care project by rolling back the Bush tax cuts. They are the same tax cuts that shall finance his tax cuts for the middle class and his gifts and goodies. If there are not multiple tax cuts to roll back, he will soon run out of money to give away…

It probably won’t get through because not just rich people have good health benefits. Union and government workers do too, and it will hurt them, even with the tax credit.

Having said that, I still have to back McCain. Obama is too dangerous, especially with a compliant house and senate.

What’s needed is not expanded insurance coverage but a total reworking of the entire system as it is – starting with the Causes of why Healthcare is so expensive to begin with and dealing with them in a fashion that does not serve to stifle innovation. It’s a tough job but rest assured, The One will not do it.

Here are the highlights for MAC’s plan:

Portability: Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines. Americans need insurance that follows them from job to job. They want insurance that is still there if they retire early and does not change if they take a few years off to raise the kids.

Tax credits: While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit – effectively cash – of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance.

Health Savings Accounts: Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the tax credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.

Ensuring Care for Higher Risk Patients: McCain will work with governors to develop a best practice model that states can follow – a Guaranteed Access Plan or GAP – that would reflect the best experience of the states.

One approach would establish a nonprofit corporation that would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. There would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for Americans below a certain income level.

Plan of Action: Lowering Health Care Costs:

1)Lowering Drug Prices. McCain will look to bring greater competition to our drug markets through safe re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generic drugs.
2)Quality, Cheaper Care For Chronic Disease. Chronic conditions account for three-quarters of the nation’s annual health care bill. By emphasizing prevention, early intervention, healthy habits, new treatment models, new public health infrastructure and the use of information technology, we can reduce health care costs.
3)GREATER ACCESS AND CONVENIENCE: Expanding Access To Health Care. Families place a high value on quickly getting simple care. Government should promote greater access through walk-in clinics in retail outlets.
4)Greater Use Of Information Technology To Reduce Costs. McCain mentioned getting medical records online and centralized in the last debate.
5)Availability Of Smoking Cessation Programs. Non-mandatory, but available to those who want to quit.

Covering Those With Pre-Existing Conditions: McCain Supported “The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act” in 1996 that took the important step of providing some protection against exclusion of pre-existing conditions. McCain Would Work With Governors To Find The Solutions Necessary To Ensure Those With Pre-Existing Conditions Are Able To Easily Access Care.

Long-Term Care: McCain Will Develop A Strategy For Meeting The Challenge Of A Population Needing Greater Long-Term Care. There have been a variety of state-based experiments such as Cash and Counseling or The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) that are pioneering approaches for delivering care to people in a home setting. Seniors are given a monthly stipend which they can use to hire workers and purchase care-related services and goods. They can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. It also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers in handling their programmatic responsibilities.

McCain Healthcare plan details: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

If Obama had any intention of even trying to get universal healthcare, he would have already declared he intended to appoint Hillary Health Care Czar. She had and plan and the experience to know what works and what doesn’t.

The German industrialists thought that they could control Hitler. Today those massive corporate contributions going to Sen. Obama are an expected quid pro quo – they think that they will contol him.

The German public was caught in the double-whammy of the hyper-inflation of the ’20s immediately followed by the world-wide Great Depression. Today our financial markets are in a ruin and there is a lot of talk of another Depression.

It scares me. A lot.

But then, we are a resilient people; more individuous, far less homogenous than the Germans, scrappy and self-centered to a degree that appalls the rest of the world. That tells me that even if Sen. Obama is elected, his Presidency will be an unmitigated, impotent disaster. He will be summarily discarded, as we decide to turn our national and political attention to real people.

The Canadian system is much more than a mix of public and private parts. There are supplemental health insurance policies running on the side to pick up things like the cost of a private room in a hospital or excess physio costs (most of which are covered anyway), or vision care, or dental/drug coverage. BUT, the key is that 100% of hospital, emergency, surgical, specialist, blood test, xray, cat scan, mri, etc., costs are all covered. All throughout Canada. Just show your card, you get the service. You can’t get into see your own doctor quick enough? Just go to a walkin clinic at big malls. Have an emergency? Go to the emergency room.

Plus, the home health care, disabled care, elder care, post-surgical care, etc., is publicly funded — and again, no co-pays, no premiums, just get a doctor’s order.

Really, you gotta keep the smoke out of your eyes when talking about the Canadian healthcare system. It is not at all like the UK system, its more like the French system, and despite constant efforts by the big US medical services and insurance companies to take over, they have not, and the system is still working just fine for the bulk of the population. That’s not to say that having had a rightwing throwback conservative government for the last 3 years hasn’t hurt the healthcare system — it has. But its still the place to be compared to any others.