[big campaign] AFL-CIO op-ed in Denver Post on McCain's healthcare plan

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http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_9338620 Who has your health at heart? By John Sweeney and Mike Cerbo Article Last Updated: 05/22/2008 05:08:58 AM MDT After he retired, Paul was just getting by on what he had. But that was without health care coverage. Now, and probably for the rest of his life, this Denver resident will work part-time to pay for health care, or lose everything. As he gets older, his health insurance and other costs go up while the coverage goes down. The future of people like Paul, as well as millions of others around the country, is essentially what's at stake in the upcoming election. Health care will be one of the headline issues of the elections at every level. Will we as a country ensure that health care is affordable and available to everyone in America, or won't we? That's the debate. On one side are those (like Sen. John McCain and President Bush) who believe that health care is a business proposition, a market- based commodity from which government should step out entirely. They say people will be more responsible consumers if they purchase health care on their own. McCain has proposed taxing the health insurance that people receive through their jobs. While this may sound like a small tweak of the tax code, it is actually a radical change. Without the incentive of being able to provide untaxed health care benefits, many employers would drop coverage and workers would be pushed en masse into the private health care marketplace. There, they would have to negotiate on their own with insurers. Major subsidies to workers through their employers to pay for health care would be eliminated entirely and replaced with a small tax credit that amounts to less than half the average price of premiums. Under this scenario, existing regulations would also be eliminated. For example, state laws that mandate coverage for mammograms or hospital stays after childbirth could be ignored at will. Quality health care would become like mansions and limousines -- something available only to the very rich. CEOs and their families would get top-of-the-line medical treatments and everyone else would be left to fend for themselves. On the other side are those (like Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama), who believe that the lack of guaranteed affordable health care is in itself what must be addressed, and are skeptical of the idea that the market is the right entity to put in charge. After all, while costs have been spiraling out of control for health consumers, the average CEO of a health insurance company earns some $8 million a year. Both Clinton and Obama, for example, would leave in place the option of employer-sponsored insurance for those who want it, as well as offer a fail-safe fallback in the form of a public plan. Both would also have government act as a watchdog to curb insurance-company excesses, while McCain would ask the health insurance industry to regulate itself. For working families, the choice is obvious. The AFL-CIO recently conducted a survey of more than 26,000 Americans, providing strong evidence that the free market is not working. One in three Americans who have health insurance report skipping medical care because of the cost, and a quarter say they have serious problems paying for the care they need. Yet the insurance industry is raking in record profits ($15 billion in 2006). Most voters agree that we need broad reform to reduce costs, provide care to more Americans and improve the quality of care. Now it's up to voters to take a close look at the candidates and decide who really has their health and their future at heart. John Sweeney is national president of the AFL-CIO. Mike Cerbo is executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. Alison Omens AFL-CIO Media Outreach 202-637-5083 phone 202-341-7263 cell 202-508-6986 fax [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the "big campaign" group. To post to this group, send to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] E-mail [email protected] with questions or concerns This is a list of individuals. It is not affiliated with any group or organization. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: by 10.141.49.9 with SMTP id b9cs130146rvk; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.150.92.12 with SMTP id p12mr749146ybb.237.1211485896887; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:36 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <grbounce-4WpGdQUAAABX6aJFW9GviX2Fxj-sPCbK=john.podesta=gmail.com@googlegroups.com> Received: from yw-out-2122.google.com (yw-out-2122.google.com [74.125.46.26]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id 9si5742981yws.5.2008.05.22.12.51.35; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:36 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of grbounce-4WpGdQUAAABX6aJFW9GviX2Fxj-sPCbK=john.podesta=gmail.com@googlegroups.com designates 74.125.46.26 as permitted sender) client-ip=74.125.46.26; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of grbounce-4WpGdQUAAABX6aJFW9GviX2Fxj-sPCbK=john.podesta=gmail.com@googlegroups.com designates 74.125.46.26 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=grbounce-4WpGdQUAAABX6aJFW9GviX2Fxj-sPCbK=john.podesta=gmail.com@googlegroups.com; dkim=pass (test mode) [email protected] Received: by yw-out-2122.google.com with SMTP id 8so131159yws.75 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:35 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlegroups.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:x-sender:x-apparently-to:received:received:received-spf:authentication-results:received:message-id:x-mailer:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:sender:precedence:x-google-loop:mailing-list:list-id:list-post:list-help:list-unsubscribe; bh=G1jKTD5ZLmWPh+GivILvBw72iUk2/4HqQ49W9+G0Uts=; b=AqyTbGYihLpB5+90Xm+yOc5xq9mXeqqTZQRWCBZQ3qdvQqP9G36k/QE6Dr3dUFvhlxBdLpYATBY1uLI55tKZqlozO2acERiRLLCUAwD3LNbqwlNQ9T6E/FkZXikwmePGLV0OdZs9GVK01TXiGebgwglE4pkJk2prSN4ITXtxHZc= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlegroups.com; s=beta; h=x-sender:x-apparently-to:received-spf:authentication-results:message-id:x-mailer:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:sender:precedence:x-google-loop:mailing-list:list-id:list-post:list-help:list-unsubscribe; b=2ZslspBq9GX/l804MaqluVd8uO1G7YRRlhx7wNLbdo5Dt7zrMNIXs866Wje9UeQzwR66T5HHO1lnpjeciAgAqBFpxcPtRYVs6pfaPRpv4jdk5fgVuW2yYXbfKKm4kHlmXzu9rgDhuyK5kdhL3/POiIjfi4wQp144f4VnwsbRHyY= Received: by 10.150.50.10 with SMTP id x10mr5516ybx.26.1211485889697; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.106.120.8 with SMTP id s8gr639prc.0; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:22 -0700 (PDT) X-Sender: [email protected] X-Apparently-To: [email protected] Received: by 10.35.27.1 with SMTP id e1mr902378pyj.7.1211485881224; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:21 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from haymarket.aflcio.org (haymarket.aflcio.org [12.4.17.12]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id x46si33176702pyg.2.2008.05.22.12.51.20; Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:21 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 12.4.17.12 as permitted sender) client-ip=12.4.17.12; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 12.4.17.12 as permitted sender) [email protected] Received: from GATE2DOM-MTA by haymarket.aflcio.org with Novell_GroupWise; Thu, 22 May 2008 15:51:20 -0400 Message-Id: <[email protected]> X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 7.0.2 HP Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 15:50:59 -0400 From: "Alison Omens" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: [big campaign] AFL-CIO op-ed in Denver Post on McCain's healthcare plan Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: [email protected] Precedence: bulk X-Google-Loop: groups Mailing-List: list [email protected]; contact [email protected] List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com> List-Post: <mailto:[email protected]> List-Help: <mailto:[email protected]> List-Unsubscribe: <http://googlegroups.com/group/bigcampaign/subscribe>, <mailto:[email protected]> http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_9338620 Who has your health at heart? By John Sweeney and Mike Cerbo Article Last Updated: 05/22/2008 05:08:58 AM MDT After he retired, Paul was just getting by on what he had. But that was without health care coverage. Now, and probably for the rest of his life, this Denver resident will work part-time to pay for health care, or lose everything. As he gets older, his health insurance and other costs go up while the coverage goes down. The future of people like Paul, as well as millions of others around the country, is essentially what's at stake in the upcoming election. Health care will be one of the headline issues of the elections at every level. Will we as a country ensure that health care is affordable and available to everyone in America, or won't we? That's the debate. On one side are those (like Sen. John McCain and President Bush) who believe that health care is a business proposition, a market- based commodity from which government should step out entirely. They say people will be more responsible consumers if they purchase health care on their own. McCain has proposed taxing the health insurance that people receive through their jobs. While this may sound like a small tweak of the tax code, it is actually a radical change. Without the incentive of being able to provide untaxed health care benefits, many employers would drop coverage and workers would be pushed en masse into the private health care marketplace. There, they would have to negotiate on their own with insurers. Major subsidies to workers through their employers to pay for health care would be eliminated entirely and replaced with a small tax credit that amounts to less than half the average price of premiums. Under this scenario, existing regulations would also be eliminated. For example, state laws that mandate coverage for mammograms or hospital stays after childbirth could be ignored at will. Quality health care would become like mansions and limousines -- something available only to the very rich. CEOs and their families would get top-of-the-line medical treatments and everyone else would be left to fend for themselves. On the other side are those (like Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama), who believe that the lack of guaranteed affordable health care is in itself what must be addressed, and are skeptical of the idea that the market is the right entity to put in charge. After all, while costs have been spiraling out of control for health consumers, the average CEO of a health insurance company earns some $8 million a year. Both Clinton and Obama, for example, would leave in place the option of employer-sponsored insurance for those who want it, as well as offer a fail-safe fallback in the form of a public plan. Both would also have government act as a watchdog to curb insurance-company excesses, while McCain would ask the health insurance industry to regulate itself. For working families, the choice is obvious. The AFL-CIO recently conducted a survey of more than 26,000 Americans, providing strong evidence that the free market is not working. One in three Americans who have health insurance report skipping medical care because of the cost, and a quarter say they have serious problems paying for the care they need. Yet the insurance industry is raking in record profits ($15 billion in 2006). Most voters agree that we need broad reform to reduce costs, provide care to more Americans and improve the quality of care. Now it's up to voters to take a close look at the candidates and decide who really has their health and their future at heart. John Sweeney is national president of the AFL-CIO. Mike Cerbo is executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. Alison Omens AFL-CIO Media Outreach 202-637-5083 phone 202-341-7263 cell 202-508-6986 fax [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the "big campaign" group. To post to this group, send to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] E-mail [email protected] with questions or concerns This is a list of individuals. It is not affiliated with any group or organization. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---