This excellent article from the Chicago Tribune sums it up pretty well with these four bullet points:
If the candidate's proposal, as presented on his campaign website (www.johnmccain.com), were implemented without certain key provisions being modified, the following chain of events would likely occur:
- Millions of Americans now covered by employer group health plans would replace their group coverage with individual medical policies.
- Many employers, if not most, would eventually drop their group medical plans.
- Employees with chronic health conditions would be unable to find affordable and comprehensive replacement coverage in the individual medical insurance market.
- These individuals, instead of being able to continue coverage in their employer group plans, would have no choice but to turn to state insurance programs with uncertain funding and possibly limited access to quality care.
If you're not familiar with McCain's plan, it will
- Pay tax credits to individuals & families who purchase private insurance on the individual market.
- NOT require individual insurance policies to take all takers or to charge a fair price to everyone.
- "Encourage" the creation of state high risk pools to cover individuals who are rejected as "unprofitable" by the insurance companies.
As the author of the article states, this would cause a bleeding off of young and healthy individuals from employer group plans. Eventually with only the older, less healthy, more expensive to insure individuals left on the plans, companies will stop offering coverage. They'd eventually jump ship and most of them would be forced into state high risk insurance pools.
To be fair, the plan would have an immediate benefit for people already purchasing insurance in the individual market and for the uninsured--that is, if they're healthy. In the end, all group plans wouldn't die out. Most people will still find coverage.
However, what we'd see is a slow, sleazy movement to privatize profits and socialize expenses in the health care industry. The state governments would be required to pick up most of the tab for the unhealthy, uninsurable through the state pools while the health insurance companies rack up obscene profits covering individuals who scarcely need coverage. We'd see on an even large scale what is currently happening with our banking system. The hyper-capitalists had their party and made obscene profits on mortgages. Now their scheme has collapsed and the government is picking up the tab to prevent the whole economy from going into another great depression.
Is this what we want for the US? Mind you, Obama's plan is not perfect but contrast it with McCain's plan and you'll see who's health care plan is better.
Let's work together for UNIVERSAL health coverage, not increased profits for the health insurance industry.
~Scott