John McCain - Health Care Plan
Senator McCain’s Health Care plan has not received a lot attention in the media. However, he has provided a detailed plan for lowering costs and making health insurance more affordable without a mandate and with out the government taking over health care responsibilities.
John McCain’s Health Care Plan…
John McCain is willing to address the fundamental problem: the rapidly rising cost of U.S. health care.
- Bringing costs under control is the only way to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance, save Medicare and Medicaid, protect private health benefits for retirees, and allow our companies to effectively compete around the world.
- Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care. We can improve health and spend less, while promoting competition on the cost and quality of care, taking better care of our citizens with chronic illness, and promoting prevention that will keep millions of others from ever developing deadly and debilitating disease.
- While we reform the system and maintain quality, we can and must provide access to health care for all our citizens - whether temporarily or chronically uninsured, whether living in rural areas with limited services, or whether residing in inner cities where access to physicians is often limited.
- America’s veterans have fought for our freedom. We should give them freedom to choose to carry their VA dollars to a provider that gives them the timely care at high quality and in the best location.
- Controlling health care costs will take fundamental change - nothing short of a complete reform of the culture of our health system and the way we pay for it will suffice. Reforms to federal policy and programs should focus on enhancing quality while controlling costs:
- Promote competition throughout the health care system - between providers and among alternative treatments.
- Make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both prevention and care, putting more decisions and responsibility in their hands.
- Make public more information on treatment options and require transparency by providers regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs, and prices.
- Facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.
- Reform the payment systems in Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention, and care coordination. Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
- Dedicate federal research on the basis of sound science resulting in greater focus on care and cure of chronic disease
- Give states the flexibility to, and encourage them to experiment with: alternative forms of access; risk-adjusted payments per episode covered under Medicaid; use of private insurance in Medicaid; alternative insurance policies and insurance providers; and, different licensing schemes for medical providers.
- Build genuine national markets by permitting providers to practice nationwide.
- Promote rapid deployment of 21st century information systems.
- Support innovative delivery systems, such as clinics in retail outlets and other ways that provide greater market flexibility in permitting appropriate roles for nurse practitioners, nurses, and doctors.
- Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine, and community and mental health clinics in areas where services and providers are limited.
- Foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic versions of drugs and biologic pharmaceuticals. Develop safety protocols that permit re-importation to keep competition vigorous.
- Pass tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards. Provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols.
- Protect the health care consumer through vigorous enforcement of federal protections against collusion, unfair business actions, and deceptive consumer practices.
John McCain believes that insurance reforms should increase the variety and affordability of insurance coverage available to American families by fostering competition and innovation.
- Reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage. Individuals owning innovative multi-year policies that cost less than the full credit can deposit remainder in expanded health savings accounts.
- Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines, to maximize their choices, and heighten competition for their business that will eliminate excess overhead, administrative, and excessive compensation costs from the system.
- Insurance should be innovative, moving from job to home, job to job, and providing multi-year coverage.
- Require any state receiving Medicaid to develop a financial “risk adjustment” bonus to high-cost and low-income families to supplement tax credits and Medicaid funds.
- Allow individuals to get insurance through any organization or association that they choose: employers, individual purchases, churches, professional association, and so forth. These policies will be available to small businesses and the self-employed, will be portable across all jobs, and will automatically bridge the time between retirement and Medicare eligibility. These plans would have to meet rigorous standards and certification.
John McCain Believes in Personal Responsibility
- We must do more to take care of ourselves to prevent chronic diseases when possible, and do more to adhere to treatment after we are diagnosed with an illness.
- Childhood obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are all on the rise. We must again teach our children about health, nutrition and exercise - vital life information.
- Public health initiatives must be undertaken with all our citizens to stem the growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and to deter smoking.
From http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm
Tags: health care, health insurance, John McCain, malpractice, mandate, medicaid, personal health, personal responsibility, prescription drugs, reduce costs, single payer, wellness
February 19, 2008 at 11:25 am
[...] John McCain - Health Care Plan « Blogs for McCain ” McCain’s Health Care plan…. … has provided a detailed plan for lowering costs and making health insurance more affordable without a mandate and with out the government taking over health care responsibilities.” (tags: health mccain healthcare reform 2008 presidential election issues) [...]
March 2, 2008 at 9:16 pm
John McCain will do nothing to help the uninsured. His plan does nothing to help those with pre-existing conditions get health insurance. As long as we are under a system that rewards an insurance company by increasing shareholder dollars this country will suffer. It looks like McCain is in the pocket of the insurance companies which is why I will not be voting for him. I support him on every other level but I repeat I will not be voting for him as long as his health care statement stands as is. Thank you.
March 2, 2008 at 10:48 pm
John McCain understands that the Democrats are offering something like what President Harry Truman called the ‘two handed General.’ The Democratic candidates imply that the American people can either give everything to the government in Universal healthcare, or they get nothing. I’m not sure if this is false liberaal logic or a real delusion, but John McCain does recognize false choices when he sees them.
March 7, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Lots of families have made some tough healthcare choices. So has mine. But this year my family made a really easy one (I’ll make this quick.) My nephew Owen is 5 years old. He got a tiny piece of plastic stuck in his ear (Don’t ask!) It rolled around in there for a few days so his dad took him to a doctor. The doctor said he could remove the plastic surgically by putting the boy under general anesthesia. But their insurance policy has a $1000 deductible, so my sister took Owen to another doctor. She said, “Hold him down.” One hundred dollars later our Owen was fine.
April 14, 2008 at 12:58 pm
As an undecided, the information necessary to decide is missing. McCain speaks of healthcare reform but does not mention who will be covered in his plan. There is no definition for “affordable” and benefits along with associated expenses are left to the imagination. Without this information, it is difficult to gauge the impact on national healthcare. Apparently some people will continue to be under-insured or uninsured.
April 21, 2008 at 6:26 am
The only people who have a problem with John McCain’s stance on the healthcare issue are the communists who support a universal care plan like obamas or clintons.
Please remember that at least here in america, healthcare is NOT a right, but a privelege, and should remain so. The idea that it is a right and through wealth redistribution we should force taxpayer dollars to fund a government run healthcare program is just absurd.
Mccain has the right idea… keep the health sector private, provide incentives to get your own plan through tax credits, and work on lowering the overall costs to those that already have private insurance
the only thing worse than universal care is a universal care plan with a mandate, which wants to force insurance on you whether like it or not
April 29, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I don’t know what the answer to the healthcare problem is.
I cannot get insurance on my own due to a pre existing condition. ( I have arthritis in my knees) Most people my age (50) have some arthritis somewhere. I take no medication for it. The doctor does not treat me for it. So basically I cannot get insurance because of something that would cost the insurance company zero dollars to treat. That is crazy.
Sadly I don’t feel there will ever be a good answer. Our government used to work for the American people (and small business) but now it works for big business. (and in this case it allows the insurance companies to pick and choose only the people they estimate they can make money off of. It did not used to be that way)
Maybe it’s not a right but a privelege. If this is true then the government needs to quit wasting my tax money taking care of illegal aliens, subsidizing ethanol (and many other things) stop making healthcare so expensive with all the paperwork they require from doctors and medical facilities and on and on. This need for help getting healthcare can’t be blamed on all of us who are not fortunate enough to be in perfect health or not rich enough to buy things that are way overpriced.
May 2, 2008 at 1:02 pm
What is wrong with the government taking over health care. We are are probably the only civilized nation that does not cover our citizens. The result, we are (Last I heard) 38 in health care. Pretty bad for a country that tries to portray itself as the richest country in the world. There are, according a recent article in the paper, 22,000 Americans a year that die from lack of health care, and we consider ourselves civilized. The only reason health care is not being changed is that the insurance companies have a powerful lobby and don’t want to lose their huge profits gained at the lives of the uninsured. As long as McCain totes this health care plan, I will not vote for him. P.S. I have talked to a lot of Canadians while traveling and they love their health care contrary to reports in the news.
May 4, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Unfortunately, this is not enough. The US spends nearly 16% of our treasure (GDP) on healthcare, with only 84% coverage. That is amazingly inefficient when realize we spend more than ANY country (percentage-wise or real dollars). McCain offers tax rebates, but the money will just continute to be inefficiently used.
I have long been an advocate of private coverage, but have changed my mind. A friend driven to bankruptcy and severe depression because of a back injury; a mounting wall of evidence that shows that universal coverage actually works in other countries; and the simple fact that I am terrified of losing my job and coverage have all changed my mind.
Healthcare is a right, it is not something you can have only if you can pay for it. That time has passed. John, we need universal health care. Stat.
May 11, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Well, here is my take on the whole thing. I lost my job due to a back injury. I am a single mom of 2, which means one income family. I paid a premium for Government Medical Coverage when I worked, I paid 65 a month flat fee according to my income. I gladly paid it, because it covers everything. My opinion is that Insurance companies rip people off. First you have to pay the premiums, then its the co-pays at the doctors office and/or a deductible. They have the choice whether to deny you a life saving procedure or not. They play with Peoples lives literally.
My family has Government Medical Care Coverage. I get the same care that people do with private insurance does. And, I get to choose my doctors, with private insurance you don’t. I don’t have to pay a large co-pay or deductible, its $2 when I go and it cost nothing for my kids if they go to the doctor, and that was the same even when I was paying for it.
I have a friend that I just talked to today that lives in Canada. She told me she had surgery last week, and I said well how many months did you have to wait, she knew I was joking. She said it was 2 weeks from the day she went to see her doctor. So, there are no waiting lists for surgery and she told me that too. I have waited at least 2 weeks for surgery here, sometimes longer!
I will not be voting for McCain. People like him can afford insurance. My mother and father were paying over 100 a week out of their paychecks and it cost them $12 to see a doctor and my dad had a rare disease, only 120 people in the U.S have it. He got to the point where the insurance didn’t want to cover his monthly IV that kept the disease from progressing. They said take him off it for one year and see whats happens. The following year (this year) he died. Within that year he went downhill fast, and he has had this disease since the age of 19. They didn’t want to pay for the IV which costs 15,000 a month for 1 IV. So, apparently this IV was keeping him alive. They played with his life. They sacrificed my dads life to get richer. Thats sad for America.
May 13, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Senator McCain said when he and Gov. Huckabee worked together on a health care presentation in Iowa he believes it was one of the most enlightening and interesting experience people had. He and Huckabee are the winning ticket. Neither is the typical Republican and Huck is from way outside the Beltway which is a plus. McCain should go ahead and pick Huck and they should start talking about vertical politics and the Fair tax. People want change. The tax system is broken and anyone who reads the Fair Tax book knows it is a good plan to especially help those low income families. Vertical politics does not concentrate on Republican or Democrat but taking the country in a better direction. We have to show a unique kind of Republican ticket and McCain/Huckabee can do it. To announce early would be something that is not usually done but it would give McCain a second person to start working towards the presidency . Huck can get the south and the sooner they start the better
June 6, 2008 at 2:38 am
[...] However, he has provided a detailed plan for lowering costs and making health insurance more …http://blogs4mccain.com/2008/02/18/john-mccain-health-care-plan/Tax credit key to McCain’s healthcare plan - The Boston GlobeDES MOINES - John mccain proposed an [...]
June 16, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Like Sharon, I have arthritis (and I’m only 47), and as a result, it’s a “pre-existing condition” that has precluded me from obtaining health insurance on my own. Thank heaven that I’m on my wife’s insurance. McCain’s proposal would not only remove the tax credit for employer provided health insurance - the fine print makes employer provide health insurance TAXABLE INCOME to the individual employee. And if a job change means getting into a job where I can’t waive health insurance, it means that we get taxed on BOTH policies.
Only the narrow minded believe that health care is a privilege, and then use highly charged words like “communist” to describe universal health care. It’s typical of the “politics of the vindictive” that has permuted the political Right. As a small businessman forced to compete with globalization, not only am I forced to compete with Third World wages, and Western European, Japanese, and Australian wages affected by currency variances, plus various less-stringent environmental standards, but I also have to compete with globalization where ALL of my foreign competition is subsidized through national health care. And please, don’t insult my intelligence with the nonsense about how these countries have higher taxes. My small business counterparts overseas aren’t taxed anymore than I am. Their employees have healthy public transportation to bring them to work and take them home, and cars are seen as a luxury for most of the middleclass, so they have no problem paying higher fuel taxes
We’ve been bamboozled by the political Far Right for far too long, getting us to take our eye off the ball. If we’re going to have to compete in this “globalization” that they’ve forced on us, then all of us, workers and small businesses alike, need the social safety nets our foreign competition enjoy.
June 17, 2008 at 10:22 am
While the rhetoric on both sides does tend to get ramped up too much on these issues, there is a legitimate debate about the roll of government. Should the government focus on reducing costs, or create a single payer health care system? Single payer systems often lowers quality of care, and lead to excessive spending and beurocracy. The government has a poor track record of handling the taxpayers money. Reducing costs allows for individual choice, good or bad. I prefer a system that leaves the choices to the individual, granted sometimes those choices are difficult, but I don’t see it being the government’s roll to take care of my responsibilities.
June 29, 2008 at 9:45 am
I read the entries, both pro and con, and have some perspectives of my own to share. Diabetes is often touted and presented as something folks do to themselves that can be avoided. It is EXCEEDINGLY important to recognize that there are TWO types of Diabetes - Type II is basically the type that can often be avoided. However, there are millions of Type I JUVENILE ONSET diabetics who became diabetics at the ripe old age of 2, 4, 11, 13, etc.!! Children of those ages do NOT have control over this type of disease - it is an autoimmune response.
Anyone reading this entry who is of child-bearing age or who has young children can hear the pediatrician say: “Your child has diabetes.” There is NO exclusions. So, for those of you who believe that healthcare is a “privilege” and not a right, would you be willing to sacrifice your child on the altar of “personal choice” when your personal choice was to have a healthy child, or to have the ability to obtain healthcare and medications and treatments for your child? Unfortunately, the mccain plan does not provide for such.
McCain’s plan is a governmental “nod” to “euthanasia by choice” - you have your income - will you spend it on your ever-increasing gas tank, your grocery bill, your housing, or medications for one individual in the family (you, your spouse, your child…)?
Before you cast your vote in November, I would suggest that you do some soul searching in that area, for a guarantee that there will be those voters who supported McCain’s euthanasic health plan who will be faced with decisions they would rather not make, and felt they would never have to make. Make certain that McCain’s plan fits into YOUR morals, for once that day arrives, you cannot go back.