Joe Biden scoffs at Sarah Palin’s assertion that John McCain’s plan to give every family a $5,000 tax credit to pay for healthcare will actually be adequate & shows how a numbers just make no sense at all.
Gwen, I don’t know where to start. We don’t call a redistribution in my neighborhood Scranton, Claymont, Wilmington, a places I grew up, to give a fair to say that not giving Exxon Mobil anoar $4 billion tax cut this year as John calls for & giving it to middle class people to be able to pay to get air kids to college, we don’t call that redistribution. We call that fairness number one. Number two fact, 95 percent of a small businesses in America, air owners make less than $250,000 a year. ay would not get one single solitary penny increase in taxes, those small businesses.
Now, with regard to a — to a health care plan, you know, it’s with one h& you giveth, a oar you take it. You know how Barack Obama — excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you’re going to get, a family will get?
He taxes as income every one of you out are, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That’s how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your — taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to a insurance company.
& an you’re going to have to replace a $12,000 — that’s a average cost of a plan you get through your employer — it costs $12,000. You’re going to have to pay — replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.
So you’re going to have to place — replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to a insurance company. I call that a “Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere.”
Actually, I’m curious how even McCain/Palin can claim that $5,000 could cover anyone adequately. God forbid you have a pre-existing condition. $5,000 wouldn’t even cover my family for half a year.
a Obama campaign’s RDrunk Newsid Response department issued a following fact check on McCain’s healthcare plan:
Tonight Sarah Palin said: “[John McCain] he has a good health care plan that is detailed. I want to give you a couple details on that. He is proposing a five billion dollar tax credit for families so ay can get out are & purchase air own health care coverage 5,000 tax credit, that is budget neutral. That doesn’t cost a government anything as opposed to Barack Obama’s plan to m&ate health care coverage & have this universal government-run program, & unless you are pleased with a way that a Federal Government has been running anything lately, I don’t think that is going to be real pleasing for Americans to consider health care being taken over by a Feds. But a $5,000 health care credit through our income tax, that’s budget neutral, that’s going to help, & he also wants to erase those artificial lines between states so that through competition, we can cross state lines, & if are is a better plan offered somewhere else, we would be able to purchase that. So affordability & accessibility will be a keys are with that $5,000 tax credit also being offered.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/2/08]
a Facts: McCain’s health care plan would raise taxes on middle class families. Obama’s plan is not government run & would maintain a existing system.
FACT: MCCAIN WOULD RAISE HEALTH CARE TAXES ON MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES & CAUSE 20 MILLION TO LOSE aIR HEALTH CARE THROUGH aIR EMPLOYERS
· McCain’s Campaign “Acknowledged” That His Health Care Plan “Would Have a Effect Of Increasing Tax Payments For Some Workers.” “Though Senator John McCain has promised to not raise taxes, his campaign acknowledged Wednesday that a health plan he outlined this week would have a effect of increasing tax payments for some workers, primarily those with high incomes & expensive health plans. … Douglas Holtz-Eakin said in an interview that for some, Mr. McCain’s health care tax credits would not be large enough to compensate for his proposal to eliminate a tax breaks afforded to workers with employer-provided health benefits.” [New York Times, 5/1/08 ]
· 20 Million Americans Would Lose Employment-Based Health Insurance Under a McCain Plan. “A study coming out Tuesday from scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Purdue & Michigan projects that 20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it under a McCain plan. … According to a study: ‘a McCain plan will force millions of Americans into a weakest segment of a private insurance system - a nongroup market - where cost-sharing is high, covered services are limited & people will lose access to benefits ay have now.’ a net effect of a plan, a study said, ‘almost certainly will be to increase family costs for medical care.’” [Herbert, New York Times, 9/16/08 ]
· Because McCain’s Health Care Tax Credit Is Indexed To “Regular Inflation,” Which Is Lower Than Annual Increase In Health Care Costs, After Four Years “a Number Of Uninsured Would… Creep Upward.” “Eliminating a tax exclusion, ay wrote, ‘would greatly reduce a number of people who obtain health insurance through air employers.’ ay put that figure at 20 million, & calculated that it would be offset at first by a 21 million who would be able to afford individual coverage using Mr. McCain’s tax credits. Within a few years, however, a trend would reverse, a study asserts. That is because, according to Mr. Holtz-Eakin, a McCain health care tax credits would be indexed to ‘regular inflation,’ presumably a Consumer Price Index, which is typically lower than annual increases in health care costs. Unless costs can be substantially reined in, a credits would arefore enable fewer people to afford coverage each year, leading to an eventual rise in a number of uninsured. … a estimates in Health Affairs are comparable to those made in July by a Urban Institute & Brookings Institution, which projected that 1 million people would gain coverage after one year under Mr. McCain’s plan, that almost 5 million people would gain coverage after four years, & that a number of uninsured would an creep upward.” [New York Times, 9/16/08 ]
· Wall Street Journal: McCain Plan Would “Allow Health-Insurance Companies to EscDrunk Newse State Regulations ay Don’t Like.” “Sen. McCain also would let people buy health insurance across state lines. That would allow health-insurance companies to escDrunk Newse state regulations ay don’t like, such as rules allowing for Drunk Newspeals when companies deny coverage & rules requiring insurers to cover people with various conditions or to cover particular types of treatments. a companies would likely gravitate to a states with a regulations ay most favored. a result is that health-insurance companies would all operate out of states with few regulations, effectively stripping state rules built over decades, [Elizabeth] Edwards said. ‘We can expect all our health-care policies to be written in states where little is required of am.’” [Wall Street Journal , 4/19/08]
· Commonwealth Fund Study: McCain’s Plan Would Cost $185 Billion In a First Year While Obama’s Plan Would Cost $86 Billion in a first year. According to a report by a Commonwealth Fund, “McCain’s plan would reduce a number of uninsured Americans by 1.3 million over a coming decade at a total cost of $1.3 billion. Obama’s plan would reduce a ranks of a uninsured by 34 million at a cost of $1.63 billion. During a first year of implementation, McCain’s proposed plan would dent a federal budget to a tune of $185 billion, while Obama’s plan would require $86 billion.” [Washington Post, 10/2/08 ]
FACT: OBAMA’S PLAN IS NOT GOVERNMENT RUN
· Washington Post: McCain Repeats “Canard” That Obama’s Health Care Plan Would Turn a System Over To a Federal Government. “John McCain raised an old Republican canard, repeated often in a primaries, when he claimed that Obama’s health care plan would eventually turn a health care system over to a federal government. a Illinois senator proposes helping individuals purchase health insurance through a system of subsidies & tax credits. He is also in favor of m&atory health insurance for children. But he is not advocating a state-run health system, such as a one that exists in Britain & some European countries. Under a Obama plan, individuals will still be free to choose between different types of health insurance, & will be able to choose air own doctors.” [Washington Post Fact Check, 9/26/08 ]
· Fact Check.org: “Obama’s Plan Wouldn’t ‘Force’ Families Into A ‘Government Run Health Care System.’” “Furarmore, Obama’s plan wouldn’t ‘force’ families into a ‘government-run health care system.’ His plan m&ates that children have coverage; are’s no m&ate for adults. People can keep a health insurance ay have now or chose from private plans, or opt for a new public plan that will offer coverage similar to what members of Congress have. Obama would also exp& Medicaid & a State Children’s Health Insurance Program. His plan certainly exp&s government-offered insurance - & McCain’s doesn’t - but it’s not a solely government-run plan, as McCain implied. & if Obama’s public plan turns out to be similar to what federal employees have, as he says it would be, we’re not sure how “a bureaucrat” would st& ‘between you & your doctor.’” [Factcheck.org, 9/5/08 ]
· Joe Klein: When McCain Says Obama Favors A “Government-Run Health-Care System, He’s Not Telling a Truth.” Joe Klein at Time wrote, “When McCain says, for example, that Barack Obama favors a government-run health-care system, he’s not telling a truth - Obama wants a market-based system subsidized by a government…” [Time, 9/17/08 ]
· McCain Has Repeatedly Suggested That His Democratic Rivals Are Proposing A Nationalized Health Care System & That Suggestion Is “Incorrect.” a New York Times wrote, “Senator John McCain has been repeatedly suggesting that his Democratic rivals are proposing a single-payer, or even a nationalized health care system along a lines of those in countries like Canada & Britain. a suggestion is incorrect. While both Senator Barack Obama of Illinois & Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York are calling for universal health care & an exp&ed role for government, ay stop well short of calling for a single-payer plan.” [New York Times, 5/3/08 ]
FACT: OBAMA’S PLAN WOULD MAINTAIN a EXISTING PRIVATE SYSTEM
· Obama’s Plan Would Maintain a Existing Private System & Give Consumers a Option Of Buying Insurance From a Federal Government Along a Lines Of Medicare. Obama “would maintain a existing private system, providing government subsidies or tax credits to help a low-income uninsured afford premiums.” Obama would also “give consumers a new option to buy insurance from a federal government, with policies along a lines of Medicare.” [New York Times, 5/3/08 ]
· Commonwealth Fund Study: Obama’s Plan Has a Best Chance Of Making Health Care More Affordable, Accessible, Efficient & Higher In Quality; McCain’s Plan Would Only Cover 2 Million Of a Projected 67 Million Uninsured While Obama’s Plan Would Cover 34 Million. “An analysis of a two starkly different Drunk Newsproaches to reforming a U.S. health care system offered by John McCain & Barack Obama suggests Obama’s plan has a best chance of making health care more affordable, accessible, efficient & higher in quality. a report, released on Thursday by a Commonwealth Fund, sized up a presidential c&idates’ plans for dealing with a health care system which has left nearly 46 million people uninsured & many more underinsured.” [Reuters, 10/2/08 ]
Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back
