Until a couple of years ago, I had always worked for companies that provided health/dental benefits. In 2006, my last year of working for a company that did this, my contribution was $170 per pay period for complete medical/dental for me, my wife, and two kids. So, about $4,000 per year.
I now have a small business with 3 people. I have a group health care plan for my small business. I got two quotes from all the insurance providers, individual and group quotes, before deciding what to do. I went with the group plan, and pay the premium for my two employees. One of my kids is no longer a dependent, so my portion covers me, my wife and one child. My family's portion alone, as part of a group plan, is $1,100 per month. That doesn't include dental or optical either. If it hadn't been part of a group plan, it would have been $1,500 per month for my family of three.
So, John McCain proposes giving families a credit fo $5,000 to help them buy their own insurance, and tax them on the value of it if their employer offers it. What a lot of people never look at is just how much money that is. In the terms of my personal experience it means that:
My out of pocket expense for health insurance by going from employer furnished with employee contribution went from $4,000 a year to $18,000 a year (I am using the non-group plan number, as most Americans would have to do). That is $14,000 out of pocket dollars. If your family income is $75,000, under McCain's plan, you would have to pay $14,000 dollars more out of pocket per year to buy your own insurance.
But, we are forgetting the tax credit. Well, you get the tax credit when you file your taxes. Tax credits don't help cash flow, so a family that has to pay $18,000 for a year of healthcare gets to take a $5,000 tax credit for it when they file their taxes. AND..a $5,000 tax credit is not a $5,000 check to help you cover the costs, it is comingled with rest of your return.
McCain's healthcare plan will allow companies to justify not offering insurance at all - and you can bet your ass the money they save won't be turned into pay raises for employees and will force families to buy their own.
BE ADVISED, MEDICAL COVERAGE FOR A FAMILY OF THREE THAT ISN'T PART OF ANY GROUP PLAN COSTS $1,500 PER MONTH, OR $18,000 PER YEAR. COMPARE THAT TO EMPLOYEE PRE-TAX CONTRIBUTIONS OF ABOUT $4,000 PER YEAR.
McCain is amazingly dangerous, and this plan will leave millions of Americans without healthcare coverage. You think it is expensive because people who can't afford healthcare use the emergency room as their doctor now, just wait if this Napoleonic fighting the disapproving ghosts of his father first family abandoner vice president hugging viagra boner poop in pants geriatric psycho Slim Pickens riding the nuke to the ground only POW in history Bush loving Patreaus poster wacking off to lobbyist dependent blinky eyed pre-stroke symptom maniac runt is President.