2nd Quarter 2008

The 2008 Presidential Campaign: The Republican Nominee Health Care Platform Competition and Controversy

By Jessica Appleton and John McDermott

Health care has become an important domestic issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. In the last issue of Insights, we looked at the Democratic candidates' health care proposals, which focus on government mandates to provide expanded access to health benefits. In this issue, we look at the Republican health care platform, which uses market-driven mechanisms like tax incentives and competition to make health benefits more affordable. We describe Senator McCain's platform below.

The McCain Health Care Platform

Senator McCain supports health care initiatives that promote affordability and competition. He recommends open health care markets to encourage competition, thereby lowering costs to American families. The McCain platform will reform the tax code to eliminate biases towards employer-sponsored insurance and provide everyone with refundable tax credits. The Republican nominee also endorses family control over their health care dollars. His health platform motto is "improve health and spend less."

However, his platform has sparked controversy in recent months because he encourages Americans to cross country borders into Canada to purchase less expensive drugs. Critics emphasize that this could cost the pharmaceutical industry $40 billion over 10 years. Here are more details of his health care platform:

• The seven principles that guide McCain's health care plan:
  
  
  1. Place patients and doctors in charge of their own health care.
  2. Improve access to affordable health care.
  3. Give patients their choice of doctors to meet their health care needs.
  4. Guarantee access to emergency care.
  5. Provide patients continuity of care when they change employers.
  6. Ensure that doctors communicate openly and fully with their patients.
  7. Provide a free and fair grievance process, including relief in the courts, in the event that an HMO denies medical care.
• Control costs to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance and protect Medicare and Medicaid.
• Provide access to health care for all citizens, whether temporarily or chronically uninsured, during this reformation.
• Allow veterans timely and high quality care and in the best location.
• Reform federal policy and programs to focus on enhancing quality while controlling costs.
• Reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage.
• Provide individuals owning innovative multi-year policies that cost less than the full tax credit with a deposit remainder in expanded health savings accounts.
• Allow families to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines, to maximize their choices, and heighten competition for their business that will eliminate excess overhead.
• Expand health insurance to 11 million uninsured children.
• Provide flexibility for Americans to choose their doctors, if they are willing to pay extra; provide additional flexibility to enroll in a point-of-service plan with access to a multitude of physicians, rather than being limited to an HMO which restricts the choice of doctors.
• Match funds for senior citizens' prescription drugs on the state and federal level.
• Increase amounts of generic drugs on the market to control prescription drug costs.

John McCain endorses personal responsibility for Americans to prevent chronic diseases, childhood obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Public health initiatives will promote nutrition and exercise and deter smoking. His proposed tax reforms and cost control methods, coupled with personal responsibility, are the key to John McCain's health care platform.

Senator McCain has faced criticisms for his support of purchasing drugs across country borders and because health insurers under his proposal would not have to cover certain pre-existing conditions, such as melanoma and breast cancer.