McCain’s healthcare plan: Gut employer-based insurance (Part 1 of 2)
AlterNetPosted: August 4th, 2008 by Steve Trinward
Author: Trudy Lieberman
“A few years back, I attended a meeting at the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill to hear conservative think tanks, including the Galen Institute and the Heritage Foundation, argue that employer-provided health insurance ought to be eliminated. The audience — mostly Hill staffers, industry reps, lobbyists, and journalists — asked a lot of questions as healthcare specialists made economic and political arguments about why the tax exclusion for the value of employer-paid health insurance had to go. It would be the first step in ending employer-sponsored coverage. … Were they crazy?” [editor’s note: Actually, this happens to be one of the FEW good ideas to emerge from the McCain ranks; remove the third-party payment system, pay people in wages/salary instead of “benefit” programs, let THEM control their own wellness issues … and slash healthcare market-costs considerably! I feel an editorial coming on … - SAT] (08/04/08)
August 5th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Did you see the Bunk study stating 2/3 of doctors in America want National Health Care. The doctors who did this study also conducted one in 2002 and found that the majority of doctors did not want national health care, the problem with this is that the 2 question surveys drastically differ in there 2nd question. I found this article, 60% of Physicians Surveyed Oppose Switching to a National Health Care Plan, It’s worth a read.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
[…] I’ve made this point at least a couple dozen times over the course of this blog’s existence (it’ll be four years in October). But it apparently has not filtered out to enough thinking people; witness the commentary this week on AlterNet, by Trudy Lieberman of the Columbia Journalism Review. In her rather hysterical screed, Ms. Lieberman bemoans the healthcare reform plan by Presidential wannabe Sen. John McCain – not because it would focus (at least marginally) more on market solutions than on nationalizing the problem, but because his programs would endanger (she uses the word “gut”) the present model of “employer-paid health insurance.” […]