John McCain's Radical Health Care Plan

NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

For Immediate Release: October 4, 2008

McCain's Plan Would Tax Benefits for the First Time, Jeopardize Coverage, Raise Costs for Floridians, Gut State Protections

Tallahassee, FL - John McCain is telling Americans that he'll give them a tax credit to pay for health care, but what he isn't telling you is that he wants to pay for it with a massive new tax on middle class families. Worse, the tax credit McCain is offering would not keep up with rising premiums over time. McCain's radical health care plan will tax Floridians' health care benefits for the first time in history, and lead 20 million workers nationwide to lose the coverage they get from their employers - even as health care costs are skyrocketing.

"John McCain is offering Floridians more of the same old Washington double-talk on health care," said Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party spokesman. "He's saying he'll give Americans a tax credit to pay for health care, but he's going to raise our taxes to help pay for the tax credit. McCain says he wants to make health care more accessible and affordable, but his plan could cause 20 million Americans to lose their employer-provided health care and allow insurance companies to pad their profits at Americans' expense."

According to the nonpartisan organization Factcheck.org, "McCain's plan to tax workers on the value of their employer-provided health care plans and provide tax credits would encourage some employers, mainly small businesses, to drop health benefits, say experts, and the proposal could eventually eliminate job-based insurance altogether." [Factcheck.org, http://www.factcheck.org/mccains_5000_promise.html]

McCain's health care plan will leave tens of millions of Americans on their own in the individual insurance market and may actually increase the number of Americans uninsured over five years. At the same time, McCain won't do anything to stop insurance companies from discriminating against Americans with pre-existing conditions, and he wants to deregulate the health insurance industry - just as he, top economic advisor Phil Gramm, and their Republican allies in Washington have done with our financial markets with disastrous results.

McCain's radical health care plan adds up to a massive new tax, no change or relief from rising health care costs and more of the same failed Republican policies that created this economic crisis extended to the health care market. Floridians can't afford four more years of Republican policies on the economy and health care.