One of the most important issues for every human being in modern society is health care. Everything revolves around our health. Access to it determines where we work, how long we stay there, how much discretionary income we have left for such extravagant expenses like housing, retirement accounts, or our children’s education funds. And of course it determines how long we live and our quality of life. Not having it, or not enough, ends many Americans in insurmountable debt and even bankruptcy.
And how many people refuse to start a new business because of the cost of insurance or the incredible risk of not having it? Take me for example, I’m a new business owner, paying my own way through college, and have Type 1 Diabetes. I’ve shopped around and simply cannot afford health insurance. Even if I could, they wouldn’t cover my diabetes. What is the point! Not that something new cannot happen but most medical issues I will face in the future will almost certainly be a result of the diabetes. And if it isn’t, the health insurance company will do everything in their power to deny coverage because I have this pre-existing condition. The only insurance policy I found which would cover pre-existing medical problems required a 12 month waiting period before they would provide coverage all the time paying $600 per month!
So health insurance is one of thee most important issues to me this campaign season. And certainly it is intimately tied in to our economic well being. What gets me is that nearly 47 million Americans don’t have health care, even though we spend more on it than any other industrialized country (almost all of which have health care for EVERY citizen!). And the cost of health insurance increases every year at every increasing amounts, now out-pacing inflation. So what does the top 2 Presidential candidates have planned for fixing our health care system? Check out their plans: Obama & Bidden McCain & Palin
The first thing I noticed is that Obama’s is more clear and concise while McCain’s is filled with political hyperbole and no clear steps to fix the system. It appears that Obama is honestly trying to address the millions who are uninsured, reduce spirally costs, and build in measures that both stimulate the economy and increase the number of insured while attempting to reduce costs for businesses. But for a more articulate argument read the Wall Street Journal opinion piece. It is co-wrote by David Cutler, a Obama campaign adviser so you may want to also read this article at Reuters.
Oh, McCain’s plan includes NEW TAXES on health insurance costs! The caveat is the plan adds tax breaks to offset the new taxes but they disappear after 10 years. Does McCain believe that the cost of health care will go down in that time? Or that all Americans will somehow magically be able to afford the taxes in that time? Must be nice to have so much money to not know about such hardship.
I don’t think either plan is adequate but Obama’s certainly is the better of the two. Outside of a full National Health Insurance plan, nothing will fully fix our problem or save us any real money.
