We have insurance from my husbands work, we would most likely become uninsured real fast. 2500-5000 tax credit is not alot of money. My friend had to get coverage for her, husband and daughter. For her husband and daughter is 500 amonth very basic doesnt cover much. You notice I did not say her...because they would not cover her......she can not find one insurance company that would insure her with out paying a very high rate.....because she is 75lbs overweight. To me his healthcare plan, would make paying for insurance almost impossible for most middle class family.

Brownstein: The risk of McCain's health plan - National Journal - MSNBC.com

You are exactly right. And have fun if you have a pre-existing condition or need COBRA.

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I'm the kind of woman when my feet hit the floor in each morning, the devil says "Oh crap, she's up."

I haven't looked much into the healthcare debate, since it doesn't pertain to me at this point in my life. However, does anyone know how Obama plans to get insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions? Oh, and at a "reaasonable" rate, which is what we are all after, right?

I am truly wondering, because I just don't see how anyone can do that.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Health Care
This is his website. It has right on there that insurance companies would have to cover pre exiting conditions. Also I did not know this about his health care it stated that he would save the average insured family 2500 dollars.

I found this. . .I'm only about halfway through it, but it explains Obama's Plan. . .the good and the bad.

The Health Care Blog: A Detailed Analysis of Barack Obama's Health Care Reform Plan

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

Oh, this is sad.

But I don't know.

McCain has a health care plan?

Can someone explain (as if I were a 10 year old) what "catastrophic reinsurance coverage" is.

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Mary

I'm not precisely sure.

But reinsurance is generally coverage that you can buy that acts as an extra layer of coverage on your normal coverage for very specific events. I'm assuming that catastrophic reinsurance coverage is an extra layer of coverage for catastrophic events.

All this talk about Healthcare, does anyone really think any of it will be possible?

When I was campaigning a couple of weeks ago, a film crew from Holland came with me & my partner & did some filming, it was going to be aired on Dutch TV..we got to talking. They have national health care, their tax rate is 53% income & 19% sales tax. After their healthcare system being in the negative over & over they had to add premiums to each citizen, the gentleman I spoke with pays $200 a month for just himself (30ish).

so, adding

53% income tax
19% sales tax
$200 a month


is that any cheaper than someone could buy themselves in the US?

Add this to the current mess we're in, I'm not counting on anything from anybody! I think it will all get pushed to the back burner as it did in the Clinton years.

Catastrophic health insurance carries a high deductible and a low premium. It is designed for patients who are generally healthy and don’t necessarily need to visit their physician regularly. The plan usually does not cover regular doctor visits (check ups, etc.) but it does provide major hospital and medical expenses coverage. If you are in good health and simply want to be covered in case of a major illness or accident, then a catastrophic health plan might be the best option for you.

I heard on a NBC last night that we all are paying the price of people who do not have health care. The people who do not have insurance go to the ER for thier health care. I know that is true in this area.....if you go to the ER you are waiting along time......That is why it cost 400 just to walk into the ER let alone the 20 asprin.

Thank you very much for the info! Now why couldn't I find that explainantion anywhere?

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Mary

Remember how this was what Clinton was determined to make happen during his administration? It was a key plank in his platform. He put Hillary in charage. They had majorities in both the House and the Senate... and yet it didn't happen.

For what it's worth, this is a list of major legislation that occurred during the first two years of the Clinton administration, per Wikipedia:


See also: List of United States federal legislation

* February 5, 1993 — Family and Medical Leave Act, Pub.L. 103-3, 107 Stat. 6
* May 20, 1993 — National Voter Registration Act of 1993, Pub.L. 103-31, 107 Stat. 77
* August 10, 1993 — Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, Pub.L. 103-66, 107 Stat. 312
* November 16, 1993 — Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Pub.L. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488
* November 30, 1993 — Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Bill), Pub.L. 103-159, title I, 107 Stat. 1536
* November 30, 1993 — Don't ask, don't tell (as § 574 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994), Pub.L. 103-160, 107 Stat. 1670
* December 8, 1993 — North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Pub.L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057
* May 26, 1994 — Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, Pub.L. 103-259, 108 Stat. 694
* September 13, 1994 — Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (including the Violence Against Women Act), Pub.L. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1796
* September 23, 1994 — Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994, Pub.L. 103-325, title I, subtitle A (§101 et seq.), 108 Stat. 2163

Check out that last one... Pub. L. 103-325.

ETA: The more I look at that list, the more fascinated I become about the implications of some of those laws.

This is the Wikipedia link to the National Voter Registration Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...on_Act_of_1993. Here's what I find fascinating:

OMG..that last one makes Jennifer Brunner look like an instant replay, only in Ohio!

An article from March 2008 ..does a good job discussing Obama, Clinton, McCain health care plans.

"Robert Laszweski has been a fixture in Washington health policy circles for the better part of three decades. He currently serves as the president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates of Alexandria, Virginia. Before forming HPSA in 1992, Robert served as the COO, Group Markets, for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company"

The Health Care Blog: A Detailed Analysis of Barack Obama's Health Care Reform Plan

He also has a blog that he keeps updated.
Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review

"Health care reform isn't going to take off in the midst of this huge financial storm either and McCain, Obama, all those offices on the Hill saying it will aren't going to make it so.

The sooner we get real--on health care and everything else--the sooner we can start talking about what is really possible."

Making Light: McCain's Health Care Plan

5000 dollar tax credit for a 12000 heath insurance...and this is saying uder Mccains healthcare plan pre exiting condition would not be covered.

I guess not too many people actually read this. It's from the Health Care Blog:

Since its inception in October 2003, The Health Care Blog (THCB) has acquired a reputation as one of the most respected independent voices in the healthcare industry. The Wall Street Journal calls us "among the most widely read insider publications in the field." Web MD calls us “a free-wheeling discussion of the latest healthcare developments."


Will the Obama health reform plan work?

The Obama health reform plan would get almost everyone covered. In spite of Senator Clinton’s claims, I don’t see her plan covering more people.

The Obama and Clinton plans are nearly identical in that they focus on access by making it possible for everyone to have coverage in an existing private or public plan and by making a Medicare-like program also available for those who don’t have private coverage. Both would spend about the same to accomplish near-universal coverage—at least $100 billion a year.

Neither plan really is a universal health care plan. A universal plan, like those in Europe and Canada, start out by including everyone in a plan they are automatically enrolled in and that is paid for by various mandatory taxes. While people in these truly universal systems can sometimes opt out for a private plan, as in Britain, they are in one on day one.

Clinton and Obama build on the American tradition of people having to buy their coverage. Both claim to make it affordable to buy—but the consumer must make the purchase. Clinton mandates it and Obama makes that an option for adults. In the end what matters is not the mandate but whether coverage is in fact affordable to everyone.

McCain takes a completely different view continuing to build on options and choices and relying upon the market to do the work in creating an affordable system.

Would the Obama/Clinton health care system work?

It would clearly get almost everyone covered sooner rather than later.

The real question is how would it be sustained. Are their cost containment strategies going to support a system that is affordable in the long run?

No.

The Obama/Clinton cost containment proposals are only incremental cost containment proposals that are layered over $100 billion of upfront spending to cover tens of millions of more people—far too little cost containment for the new massive injection of money, almost overnight, into the health care system.

Both Clinton and Obama offer us a long list of good cost containment ideas—most of which they share with McCain. Most have been underway in the market for many years with limited success. Undoubtedly, a government infusion of resources or requirements aimed at a more efficient system would have a positive impact but it is hard to see how they would be enough fundamentally alter things and bring the system under real control.

More likely, a $100 billion infusion of new health care spending by an Obama or Clinton plan would actually increase the rate of health care inflation and ultimately create an imperative for more draconian government intervention in the health care markets both Obama and Clinton would preserve.

Cost containment is the big missing link here.

The big question John McCain has to answer is how will his health care program cover everyone—particularly the older and sicker—and how will he be able to provide enough assistance to those who are now uninsured by simply redistributing the tax breaks now only enjoyed by those currently covered?

The big question for Obama and Clinton is not in getting almost everyone covered—their plans spend enough money up front to likely do that—the question for them is how will they create an affordable health care system with only incremental cost containment ideas?

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

I sure as heck do not go to the er once a month, even if I did, comparing those prices, it would STILL be cheaper for me to be hit with $400 each & every month for er fees!

I read this, but found alot more that said Obamas was better. For my family and almost everyone I know would do better under Obamas plan not Mccains. I could send you more links that other people think Obama plan is better. Whats the point you have your mind very closed when it comes to Obama...

My point about the ER is people who do not have heathcare use the ER as thier doctors office. It is not just 400 amonth tax payers are eating it is million and millions. That is one reason why healthcare prices have risen so much in the past decades. Not only do they cause rising heathcare they are taking away from people who really need to be in the ER....

Great.

Post your links.

Are they from one of the most respected independent voices in the healthcare industry?

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

All a matter of opinion.....

__________________
"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23773.html

Sen. McCain's Health Tax Credit

Sen. McCain proposes a new refundable health tax credit for each tax return -- $2,500 for singles, $5,000 for a couple. To pay for part of this major tax cut, he proposes that the current tax exclusion for employer-provided health insurance be repealed. For 2009 and many years to come, the new credit would be more valuable to most taxpayers than the current exclusion, which for the typical taxpayer is now worth about $1,800. The Obama campaign has been running advertisements that are far from honest, and the McCain campaign rarely tells voters the whole truth either.

The vice-presidential debate was a font of falsehoods on this topic. Gov. Sarah Palin claimed that the plan was budget neutral when, in fact, the McCain plan would be a large tax cut, roughly $1.3 to $1.4 trillion over ten years. That tax cut figure may surprise people who believed Sen. Joe Biden's statements on the campaign trail that falsely called it the largest tax increase ever on the middle class. In fact, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that Sen. McCain's health tax credit would actually be a better deal for the middle-income (as a group) than Sen. Obama's health plan for each of the next ten years.

Obama has also been running ads trying to scare voters into believing they would be left to pay higher wage taxes while their insurance companies collect the tax credit. In fact, a taxpayer's insurance company would only receive the credit as total or partial payment of the insurance premiums that the taxpayer owes for health insurance. It's like the government giving you a voucher for cable television service, yet sending the check directly to the cable company on your behalf. The cable company can only cash the voucher if they provide you with the service. So the voucher is benefiting you, not just the cable company.

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm