Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Healthcare we can't believe in, my friends

Ezra Klein has an excellent review of the recent Health Affairs papers that offer analysis of the candidates' health care proposals. The key take-aways:
McCain's health care plan would increase taxes on employer based health insurance and price 20 million plus Americans out of the coverage they currently rely on. In return, he'd give them a tax credit that is not indexed to health costs, and will become worthless as the years pass. He'd push them into the individual market, where higher administrative costs and underwriting practices mean that if individuals try to purchase the exact policy offered by their employers, they will pay $2,000 more per year. In addition, the sick can be turned away, and the state regulations that ensure some minimum level of benefits will be dismantled. All this will cost us $1.3 trillion over 10 years, and set the rules so that more of the expense falls on the sick and less rests on the healthy.

Read the full review here at the American Prospect.

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