FALSE MCCAIN CLAIM: “My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance.”
FACTS: MCCAIN’S HEALTH CARE PLAN DOES LITTLE TO REDUCE THE RANKS OF AMERICA’S UNINSURED AND WOULD ERODE EMPLOYER-BASED HEALTH SYSTEM
* Under McCain’s Plan, Health Insurance Benefits Would be Taxed For The First Time, Resulting In A $3.6 Trillion Tax Increase On Working Families. McCain’s health care plan would eliminate the payroll deduction on health care benefits, which would have the effect of raising taxes on working families by $3.6 trillion.
* McCain’s Plan Undermines The Employer-Based Health Care System And Will Lead To Workers Losing Coverage. McCain’s health care plan would begin to dismantle the employer-based health care system, removing the incentives employers have to provide health care coverage, resulting in employees losing their health care.
* The Health Care Tax Credit McCain Offers Would Cover Less Than Half The Cost Of An Average Health Care Plan. The McCain health plan would give families a $5,000 tax credit to purchase health insurance. However, in 2007, the average family health insurance plan cost $12,000 – more than double the value of McCain’s health care tax credit. <“Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/11/07; “‘Call To Action’ On Health Care Reform,” John McCain 2008 press release, 4/29/08; Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07>
McCain’s Health Care Plan Does Little to Help America’s Uninsured. McCain’s plan does not focus on “reducing the ranks of the uninsured,” of which there are about 47 million, or one in seven Americans. According to the New York Times, “The McCain campaign has no estimate of how many of America’s 47 million uninsured would likely gain coverage under its plan.” It “has been estimated to reduce the number of uninsured in the U.S…by three to nine million.”
* McCain’s Erosion Of Employer System Would Take Away Millions of Americans’ Insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “158 million people nationally” had “employer-sponsored health insurance” in 2007. McCain’s elimination of the employer tax incentive to provide coverage would put these 158 million Americans’ coverage in jeopardy. According to an analysis conducted by the Center For American Progress, “business owners would no longer need to cover their workers to get tax benefits for their own coverage…The entire employer health insurance system could unravel, ending this as an option for Americans who prefer it.” In addition, the McCain plan “would not require insurers to provide health coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.” http://kff.org/insurance/ehbs091107nr.cfm ; Center For American Progress Action Fund, “Analysis of McCain’s Health Care Announcement,” 4/29/2008; New York Times Political Blog, “The Caucus,” 4/29/2008, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/mccains-health-care-plan/#more-4961>
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