Via Balloon Juice, I see McCain would give the big F-U to other senior citizens who have neither entered Congress nor married heiresses. From the Wall Street Journal:
John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.
The Republican presidential nominee has said little about the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan "budget neutral," as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn't given a specific figure for the cuts, but didn't dispute the analysts' estimate.
I guess that would make seniors as fucked as the rest of us under a McCain presidency:
Sen. Obama is focused on Sen. McCain's plan to offer a new tax credit of $2,500 per person and $5,000 per family toward insurance premiums. This would allow people to buy health coverage on the open market, where they may have more choices and might look for a better bargain.
In exchange, the government would begin taxing the value of health benefits people get through work. If an employer spends $10,000 to buy a worker health insurance, the worker would pay taxes on that money.
As John Cole notes, TPM opines "I guess they really are writing off Florida."
Posted by binky at October 6, 2008 10:50 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Florida | PoliticsAnother example of McCain not living in the real world. I know many families who buy their own health coverage and not one of them pays less than $12,000 per year. For that they typically get sorry-ass coverage with high deductibles that doesn't include pregnancy or pre-existing conditions. And dental, vision, mental health coverage? Not a chance.
Posted by: casey at October 7, 2008 09:23 AM | PERMALINKTo continue the group insurance that the three of us have under Cobra - and all of us are youngish, unmarried and childless - would cost $420 per month. Eye and dental are not included, and mental health is limited to 20 visits per year.
Posted by: binky at October 7, 2008 06:25 PM | PERMALINKMy COBRA was pushing $800/mo when I left the government, which included dental and vision. I continued the medical for the month between jobs at a cost of roughly $500. Government plans and all, the benefits were stellar, but we're still talking $10K against a $2,500 tax credit for an individual.
Posted by: moon at October 7, 2008 08:13 PM | PERMALINK