And Furthermore, On McCain's Health Care Plan....

John Bassett has left a new comment on your post "McCain's Health Care Plan":

"Well, this little quote certainly does remind us what McCain really believes and what philosophy would actually guide a McCain administration.

But the actual plan he is putting forth should scare most of us. McCain proposes treating employer-paid health care as taxable income. Since the value of that benefit will exceed the credit of 2500 dollars that he proposes to offset it, almost anybody who gets health care through their work will see a significant tax increase.

Now, the aim of this plan is to eliminate the employer-paid plan. Right away, younger employees will seek to opt out of the plan since most are either health enough to take the risk of having no health care or will be able to buy it for cheaper than the group premium. This will leave only older or sicker workers in the pool, and that will drive up prices for the group further. Finally, the employer will want to end the expensive plan altogether. The older or sicker workers will not be able to purchase any meaningful insurance on the market, so they will be uninsured.

But it gets worse. Under the McCain plan, insurers will be exempt from any state regulation except where the plan is supposedly centered. So, the state which offers the fewest protections will be home to the most health care plans. And you can be sure that they will buy the best state legislature they can to make sure this continues!

So, under McCain, you will either not have health insurance, pay more for health insurance, and, when you do buy health insurance, you will discover that you have little, if any, recourse when the insurer decides not to pay your bill. And remember, McCain and his fellow Republicans will not even let you declare bankruptcy if you run up medical bills your insurer will not cover. The only safe thing to do will be to get sick and die.

I do understand the distaste that many working-class people feel for the Gruyere and Pinot Grigio crowd that flocked to Obama early on. But voting for McCain because you do not like them is like drinking sterno because you dislike white wine. It is utter insanity."

Thank you, John. You did the hard work on this one.