Comments on: McCain's Approach To Health-Care Reform

Candidate Writes In National Review Online That Restoring Control To Patients Better Solution Than Democrats' Plans

[justsane-2009]

let me see if i have this right--the health care plan that has covered him for most of his adult life is "inefficient, irrational, and an uncontrolled government monopoly?" huh. and it will include "rigid rules, long waits, and lack of choices, and risk degrading its great strengths and advantages including the innovation and life-saving technology that make American medicine the most advanced in the world"? another huh. i for one, am willing to take that chance. after all, he seems to be doing pretty well--cancer survivor and all that. yeah, thank you senator, for looking out for me, but i kind of think that if it''s good enough for you, it''s good enough for me...

[irliberal]

....and the moral of the story is never to buy a health care plan from a man who sings "Bomb bomb bomb Iran", like it''s a joke.

Vote for this warmongering freak if you want more of the same.

[incog-nito]

As bad as the current system is, McCain''s plan will make it WORSE. If you think things are bad now, individual plans will be veritable nightmare. At least with a group plan there is some protection against premiums being raised at will, against denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and against dropping your coverage on a whim. Individual plans offer NO such protection. A self-employed friend of mine had his premium raise twice in six month, for no apparent reason whatsoever. He also had a chronic condition. It''s not expensive to treat, but they put a rider his policy anyway to NOT cover it.

McCain''s tax credit does NOTHING to control skyrocketing costs, which is the real problem. Insurers will continue to raise their premiums and reduce your coverage. What will happen when costs become too high again? Increase the tax credit? Rest assured the insurers will to their best to keep up. In other words, this plan is plain idiotic.

[incog-nito]

Savings accounts or flexible spending plans are A JOKE. You''re forced to to estimate your medical expenses, and if your save too much then you lose that money. Why is the government making people play lottery with their expenses. If you want to give people a break, just GIVE THEM A BREAK. What is so hard about that? Why all the games?

[ubrew12]

Article: "We will replace the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of the current system with the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of a government monopoly."

Yeah. That government monopoly has been such a ''burden'' to the West Europeans, Canadians, and English....NOT!!

I realize the American people have been conditioned to think that government bureaucracies work as inefficiently as Bush has ordered them to be run the last 8 years, but as with all things, if you demand performance, you get it. Thats what people in these other countries do and, guess what, they get what they ask for. Only in America, where Bush has ordered all federal bureaucracies to be run by incompetents like ''brownie'' at FEMA for the last 8 years, do our bureacracies work so abysmally. It doesn''t hurt that corporations in America pay people like McCain to continually spout the fiction that government bureaucracies don''t work.

McCains supply-side faith is evident in this article, as in his suggestion that cutting gas taxes this summer will do anything but put money in oil companies pockets and balloon our national debt. I, for one, have had it up to HERE with supply-side, bootstraps capitalism guys trying to suggest fancy ways ''private'' enterprise can perform an essentially ''public'' service. We''re $10 trillion in debt, Mr McCain. Offering a tax cut at this time is like offering a beer to an alcoholic. Shame on you.

[thatanial]

Savings accouts? This is alice-in-wonderland. Any moderate medical problem will burn through rhw $5000 account like a hot knife through butter. Conventional health plans eill cost more then the revenues raised by his proposals.


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Posted by IMNHO at 09:46 PM : May 01, 2008



we already have HSAs, they are great for child care or other known expenses. It does cover many things and you risk losing the money if you dont spend it. He is talking about EXPANDING them

[thatanial]

Savings accouts? This is alice-in-wonderland. Any moderate medical problem will burn through rhw $5000 account like a hot knife through butter. Conventional health plans eill cost more then the revenues raised by his proposals.


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Posted by IMNHO at 09:46 PM : May 01, 2008



we already have HSAs, they are great for child care or other known expenses. It does cover many things and you risk losing the money if you dont spend it. He is talking about EXPANDING them

[thatanial]

I dont know if you guys are just so dishonest you cant take this article at its word, or you guys are really this stupid that you have no comprehension of what you read.

I think its not simply, ''we will give everyone health insurance'' that is the problem. Knowing full well we couldnt afford to just do that.

maybe you fools just love saying sieg heil so much you would think you thought the wrong side one.

[thatanial]

I dont know if you guys are just so dishonest you cant take this article at its word, or you guys are really this stupid that you have no comprehension of what you read.

I think its not simply, ''we will give everyone health insurance'' that is the problem. Knowing full well we couldnt afford to just do that.

maybe you fools just love saying sieg heil so much you would think you thought the wrong side one.

[thatanial]

1) cost control and access is what he said the problem is. the $2500/$5000 rebate that goes directly to the insurance companies is his solution. thats the access part. The control part is a bit more complicated but you should be able to grasp it.

a)If walk-in clinics in retail outlets are the most convenient, cost-effective way for families to safely meet simple needs, then no policies of government should stand in their way. And if the cheapest way to get high quality care is to use advances in web technology to allow a doctor to practice across state lines, then let them.
b) deal with another source of needless cost and trouble in the health care system which comes from the trial bar. Every patient in America must have access to legal remedies in cases of bad medical practice. But this vital principle of law and medicine is not an invitation to endless, frivolous lawsuits from trial lawyers who exploit both patients and physicians alike. We must pass medical liability reform

c)Finally, we must personally do everything we can to prevent expensive, chronic diseases.

d) he also says that the increased competition from allowing insurance to work in many states, plus vying for each taxpayers rebate, will also work to create better and less expensive ways of practicing medicine.

[imnho]

Savings accouts? This is alice-in-wonderland. Any moderate medical problem will burn through rhw $5000 account like a hot knife through butter. Conventional health plans eill cost more then the revenues raised by his proposals.

[joyous88]

If you like the moron that we have now

than you will love mcbushCain

[samthetvcat]

PS Like health insurance is basically a necessity, so that''s one aspect of it which tilts the balance of power to favoring big business. Doesn''t health insurance also have a high barrier to market entry such that the lure of great profits isn''t necessarily going to lead to increased market competition?

[samthetvcat]

-----"I have a different approach. I believe the key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves. To that end, my reforms are built on the pursuit of three goals: paying only for quality medical care, having insurance choices that are diverse and responsive to individual needs, and restoring our sense of personal responsibility."-----

It''s really hard to get in the weeds with McLame''s proposals because they''re so like ''rah rah, this is going to be the best thing ever'' without really laying out ALL the relevant factors, unknowns, possible fallout, etc - there''s never any citation of statistics or comparative analysis to countries that work.

His arguments all seem to say ''trust me''. So maybe the question to ask is if medical treatment is a life necessity, what''s to prevent insurance companies from basically ''colluding'' to keep costs high and profits maximized the way gas companies have? Doesn''t McCain''s plan actually give them collectively all the power?

I guess here is where McCain forgot to add that we should just ''trust them too'' (?)