Obama’s plan misrepresented

Ruth S. Hanft Charlottesville
Published: September 13, 2008

John McCain either doesn’t understand health insurance or he purposefully misrepresented the Barack Obama health plan.

During his convention speech, he said Obama’s plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages and force families into government run health care. Not true.

The Obama plan is not government-run, it is government-sponsored similar to the one congressmen, senators and federal employees have access to. The Obama plan would make a wide choice of private plans available to the many (47 million citizens) who don’t have health insurance, while preserving current em-ployment-based programs for those who have them.

The Obama plan specifically excludes small business from any requirements. In fact, the plan provides refundable tax credits for small businesses to help them afford, voluntarily, to provide health insurance to their employees.

The Obama plan lets those happy with their current in-surance keep it. It offers choice of a new publicly sponsored but private insurance plan similar to what Congress enjoys. It provides income-related subsidies to make coverage affordable to all. It expands the Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insur-ance programs to help the most vulnerable citizens.

I would note that Sen. Mc-Cain supported President Bush’s veto of the expansion of the SCHIP program, which provides health care for vulnerable lower-income children.
Sen. McCain’s plan, in contrast, has the potential to destroy the current employer-based plans by taxing workers on the premiums the employers pay on their behalf; offers tax credits to buy individual policies that benefit the wealthy more than the middle class, and are inadequate to pay for the cost of an average family policy, and would eliminate the current state regulation of health insurers that protects you and me.