The Presidential Candidates’ Health Reform Proposals

I was reading box labels in the sinus/congestion section of a department store yesterday which happened to be right beside customers lined up at the pharmacy window. I overheard three older people talking about how much they “reckoned” their medicne was going to cost. And what a day of reckoning it was. Wow. Then they started talking about medical costs (I’ve seen cars cost less than one lady said she paid for a test).

They were cute but they were depressing me, so I just grabbed a box with a name I trusted. It promised to open up everything that was closed up, so I took my 5′2″ of congestion to the check-out.

Anyone with good health coverage should stop whatever they’re doing right now and thank God for it, from the bottom of their well-covered heart. Being sick but unable to afford a doctor is a complete nightmare. It’s a problem that much, much, much more time and money should be spent on addressing.

From Everyday Health.com:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would use tax credits to encourage consumers to buy coverage in the individual insurance market, including removing barriers to purchasing insurance in other states. This might eventually lead to erosions in consumer protections, said Sara Collins, an assistant vice president for The Commonwealth Fund’s Program on the Future of Health Insurance.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), on the other hand, would require all employers except those running small businesses to either provide coverage or contribute to the cost. His plan would also expand eligibility for Medicaid/SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program).

Obama has stated that universal coverage is an eventual goal. McCain has not made this statement, instead preferring to focus on expanded access to insurance.

McCain’s plan would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 1.3 million over the coming decade at a total cost of $1.3 billion. Obama’s plan would reduce the ranks of the uninsured by 34 million at a cost of $1.63 billion. During the first year of implementation, McCain’s proposed plan would dent the federal budget to the tune of $185 billion, while Obama’s plan would require $86 billion.

To read the report entirely, see Report Compares Health-Care Platforms of Presidential Candidates.

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