One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and go man go

It seems that Senator John McCain has a grand plan for the future of healthcare should he be elected president in 2008. I skimmed over this article during work and was frankly...horrified. It appears that he believes that opening up the health insurance industry to the free market would fix the millions-of-uninsured problem that we have. With his plan he would do away with the tax breaks that are currently in place for employers who offer insurance to their employees, encouraging business to do away with insurance benefits for employes thus prompting employees to go out and purchase their own plans (with the aid of a $5,000 incentive that will be dangled in front of them).

However he will not do anything about the pre-existing condition block that many (if not all) insurers currently have in place. People with pre-existing conditions will be placed into the high risk pool and would be eligible to purchase plans from insurers of last resort. A few states have that particular plan in place right now and from what I understand the plans offered from insurers of last resort are generally 1.) expensive and 2.) small in their offerings.

That...is insane. I realize that I am biased in regards to health care, but with this plan he is more or less giving employers reasons not to provide insurance to their employees. Which is the only way I can currently get insurance right now. Then he is going to feed me to the sharks and toss me into the high risk pool without a glimmer of a safety net. I doubt that a fair price is going to be offered up for someone like me - who actually uses their health insurance frequently - even with the free market. This benefits the healthy and leaves the sick, old and poor SOL.

Things like this make me really worry about the future of health care in the United States. It paints a very bleak future where myself and people like me are forced to live hand to mouth because every spare penny that they run across will have to go towards medical costs.

Read about McCain's Big Plan on the New York Times' website.

Here's hoping for a brighter future, right?

Tags: 2008, election, health, insurance

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5 Comments

Comment by Cathy on May 9, 2008 at 6:20am: I totally agree with you and I dont want the state handling my health care either cause frankly they screw up to much and then want to try and correct the problem . well should not have created the problem in the first place . I think pre exsiting is just a term for them to use an excuse to charge employers and employees more for their healthcare . it makes me sick too .

Comment by Lauren on May 9, 2008 at 8:16am: I just wish they would do away with the pre-existing clause and pre-existing up-charging. I'd love to be able to buy a plan for the same price as a healthy person can, or be able to shop around like McCain seems to think the rest of the nation could do.

Comment by debb on May 9, 2008 at 8:47am: at first blush my ex would be very happy. he wouldn't be paying a $100.00 a week for an insurance plan he doesn't want. but then he would be screaming bloody murder when he has to pay all the extra money out of pocket. something tells me i would no longer be taking my meds, because he would stop paying and i am not in a position where i can pay. the amount he pays me weekly, puts me in a bracket where i come in just above where i could get financial aid. i have already made sure that when the divorce is final, there will be a part in there that says he will continue paying for insurance until the time comes when i can pay it myself. he is livid. hey, he's the one that had an affair and walked out. knowing about my health and what kind of position he would leave me in. as far as i'm concerned there is no negotiating on that part. call me a #$@%& if you want but, i deserve something for 34 years of marriage. don't worry he's already calling me one because i finally got some hoo-hoo's and am standing up for my rights. he wanted me to give in to all his demands and give him an amicable divorce. i'm not going for his brass "bells", but i'm not going to let him walk all over me either. it's about time i stood up to him.
anyway if McCain gets in there, there may not be any insurance to fight over. not that the democrats are going to do us any favors either. no matter how you look at it the insurance as we know it is going to change, and not for the better. what do they care, they can afford to pay for their insurance and their elderly family members and so on and so forth.

Comment by Kristin on May 15, 2008 at 4:03am: Uh, this makes me SO mad!! Thanks for sharing the article... i didn't know the details of his plan!

Comment by Lauren on May 17, 2008 at 1:14pm: It's scary to imagine a world where insurance is hard to find if not nearly impossible based on price - which of course would trickle down to the cost of medication.

I'll say this for the democrats - so far both Hilary and Obama have plans that they would like to impliment that would benefit those of us who are so dependent on health care. I can't recall the details of each off the top of my head but I do remember Obama saying something about doing away with the pre-existing condition clause. Which is good. We need a change.

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