This morning on Face The Nation one of the Democratic speakers commented about John MCain’s health plan that will result in higher taxes on health care provided by employers. I researched this issue on the internet. Here is what I found.
John McCain’s plan is vague. He is opposed to any kind of universal health plan. He thinks that more competition will lower the cost of medical insurance. It’s not true. Here in California there are 118 companies licensed by the state. They provide group and/or individual coverage. Is that enough competition? It doesn’t help because most people are insured by the very big companies. That is a handful of insurers. Most of those same big insurance companies are in almost every other state. The names are familiar to everyone. They are Aetna, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, Golden Rule, Mutual of Omaha, Pacificare, Hartford Life, and United Health Care. In Mr. McCain’s Arizona there are 39 companies licensed to sell group insurance and another 13 licensed to sell individual plans. I checked Arkansas and most of the same big companies are selling insurance there too.
McCain’s plan according to almost every report I have read will end employer income tax deduction for the expense of providing medical insurance. Some reports have even said that the employees themselves will have to declare the cost of the insurance provided as part of their income. Those actions would result in a tax increase for both individuals and companies. The result would likely be that companies will stop providing medical insurance to their employees.
This one issue alone is reason enough to vote for Barack Obama.
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