McClatchy Examines McCain’s Health Care Proposal

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Critics have raised concerns that the proposal would prompt some employers to drop health insurance for employees and that many of those workers could not afford to obtain coverage through the private market. Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said, "The employer-based insurance system could unravel" under the proposal.

Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said, "We believe the employer-based system is the foundation of health insurance coverage in this country," adding, "You need to build on the (employer-based) system." He added that employers and health insurers need to work to reduce health insurance costs.

Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, said that the proposal would not prompt employers to drop health insurance for employees and that there would be new incentives for businesses to work with employees to reduce coverage costs (Lightman, McClatchy/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 10/10).

Pelosi, DeGette Promote Obama Proposal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) on Wednesday during an event in Denver promoted the health care proposal of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and criticized the McCain plan, the Denver Post reports. Congress should make expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and an expansion of SCHIP priorities next year, according to Pelosi and DeGette (Olinger, Denver Post, 10/9).

Editorials
Summaries of several recent editorials that addressed health care issues in the presidential election appear below.

• Anchorage Daily News: Palin "has a much stronger record on energy than on health care" and "did not make a big issue of health care in her campaign for governor" or during her administration, a Daily News editorial states. According to the editorial, although Palin "did recognize that Alaska's health care services are in trouble," she "did not sign on to any plan to improve" the system. The editorial concludes, "Palin has made small steps toward better health care for Alaskans but has yet to achieve significant improvements" (Anchorage Daily News, 10/7).
  
  
• Detroit News: Both major presidential candidates "are nearly indistinguishable in their miscalculation of the American voters' appetite for bigger and more expensive government" based on some of their campaign proposals, a News editorial states. According to the editorial, the Obama health care proposal "could easily balloon to twice" the estimated cost, as he "assumes private employers won't off-load their insurance costs to the government." In addition, the proposal would add "costs to an employer's bottom line without increasing productivity," the editorial states. The editorial adds, "For the record, McCain's plan ... does a better job of providing access to health insurance without blowing up the private system" (Detroit News, 10/9).
  
  
• Manchester Union Leader: The Obama health care proposal "will force insurers to hire a lot of bureaucrats to do paperwork" at a time when "administrative costs already account for 31% of existing health care costs" in the U.S., a Union Leader editorial states. "The more government tells insurers what to do, the more insurance costs," and as "McCain pointed out in Tuesday night's debate," U.S. residents "are forced by states to buy insurance that covers things they don't need," according to the editorial. The McCain proposal, which involves "increasing market competition to drive down prices," is a "lot better than more government mandates of the kind that have made health care so much more expensive than it has to be," the editorial states (Manchester Union Leader, 10/9).
  
  
• Raleigh News & Observer: "There seems to be a gap in McCain's understanding of domestic issues," such as health care, a News & Observer editorial states. The tax credits that his health care proposal would provide would do "no good for someone with a pre-existing physical condition that would cause insurance companies to deny coverage," according to the editorial. He "needs to plug these holes" in the proposal because he "owes voters no less than the competition of ideas he promised them," the editorial states (Raleigh News & Observer, 10/9).

Opinion Pieces
Summaries of several recent opinion pieces that addressed health care issues in the presidential election appear below.

• Robert Goldberg, New York Daily News: "Obama is claiming that John McCain wants to run health care like Republicans have been running Wall Street -- implying that McCain would let greedy private companies take advantage of average Americans" -- but the "ironic truth is this: Obama wants to run health care like Washington, and especially Democrats, have been running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Goldberg, vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, writes in a Daily News opinion piece. He adds, "That's likely to have more troubling consequences for the health of Americans and their economy." According to Goldberg, Obama "should know better" than to criticize the McCain health care proposal as "radical," but "perhaps is compelled to make this political attack." Obama "wants to blame the current financial meltdown on banking deregulation McCain supported in 1999," and his "vision for health care is this: He would create a market for health care much like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created a market for mortgages," Goldberg writes. He adds, "We should fear that outcome" (Goldberg, New York Daily News, 10/9).
  
  
• Michael Cannon, New York Post: "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to choose the features of your health policy, just like your auto insurance?" Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, writes in a Post opinion piece. According to Cannon, the McCain health care proposal would "let you do just that, simply by letting you choose a plan available in another state," and the plan would "boost coverage too." Meanwhile, "Obama sees choice as dangerous" and "fears that, 'where there are no requirements for you to get cancer screenings,'" no health insurers will cover such tests, Cannon writes. However, he writes, "California doesn't mandate colon-cancer screenings, yet Kaiser Permanente of Northern California is a leader in such research." The "first step" to health care reform "is to treat consumers like adults and stop letting" physician groups and government "choose our health insurance for us," according to Cannon (Cannon, New York Post, 10/9).
  
  
• Froma Harrop, Providence Journal: "Political independents now rank health care second among the issues they most want the presidential candidates to discuss," and more believe that Obama represents their views on the issue, syndicated columnist Harrop writes in a Journal opinion piece. "Independents are key voters in this election," Harrop writes, adding, "These numbers have to be encouraging for Barack Obama" (Harrop, Providence Journal, 10/9).
  
  
• Gary Andres, Washington Times: Obama during his campaign has criticized the McCain health proposal because the plan would tax employee health benefits for the first time but "leaves out" that "McCain also proposes a $5,000 credit to offset any new tax liability," Andres, vice chair of Dutko Worldwide, writes in a Times opinion piece. According to Andres, the tax credits are a "central detail that provides significant tax relief for the middle class, addresses deficiencies in America's health care system and means no change in tax expenses for employers providing health insurance." In addition, tax credits would help "improve the transparency of the health care system" by "showing who is really paying for health care," which, "in turn, will expedite other needed changes in the system," he adds. Andres writes, "By willfully ignoring the second half of Mr. McCain's health care plan, Mr. Obama opposes an idea that provides significant middle-class tax relief, and misses a chance to provide the kind of transparency needed to speed reform," adding, "For a candidate who bases his campaign on 'change,' Mr. Obama's distortions ... sound eerily familiar" (Andres, Washington Times, 10/9).

Broadcast Coverage

• ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday included an analysis of the McCain and Obama health care proposals by "Good Morning America" medical editor Tim Johnson (Ibanga, "Good Morning America," ABC, 10/8).
  
  
• CBS' "Evening News" on Thursday also included an analysis of the McCain and Obama health care proposals and their potential impact on employers. The segment includes comments from Randy Wolfe, general manager of the Hickory House restaurant in Ohio; other employees of the restaurant; and Towers Perrin consultant Ron Fontanetta (Doane, "Evening News," CBS, 10/9).
  
  
• WAMU's "The Diane Rehm Show" on Friday is scheduled to include a roundup of news on health care and other issues in the presidential election. The segment is scheduled to include comments from Eleanor Clift, contributing editor for Newsweek; Matthew Continetti, associate editor for the Weekly Standard; and Juan Williams, an NPR news analyst, FOX News political analyst and author (Rehm, "The Diane Rehm Show," WAMU, 10/10).