What’s the difference between Obama and McCain on health care?
March 12, 2008 by libertyisforme
National Review wrote a great piece on both candidates differences:
Obama:
Obama would rely much more on the heavy hand of government. Among other things, he would impose caps on insurance premiums and price controls on drug companies. He would have the government establish national practice standards for doctors. And, he would create a National Health Insurance Exchange as a sort of clearinghouse to make it easier for businesses and individuals to shop for the best insurance.
McCain:
He would allow people to buy insurance plans across state lines, which will help drive down rates. And he would try to shift away from our current employment-based insurance system toward a system where individuals purchase and own their own insurance plans. He would do this by replacing the current tax break for employer-provided insurance with a refundable $2,500 tax credit for individuals, and $5,000 for families. The idea is that once people start to buy their own insurance, they’ll be in a position to insist on lower prices and higher quality - just as they do with every other product they buy.
I prefer McCain’s health care proposal because I don’t want to place my life in the hands of the government. Something drastic must change in our health care system but we can’t afford another CA and MA.
If the government can’t run public schools effectively, why would they get socialized medicine right?
I agree with you that we don’t need socialized medicine, but is that really Obama’s plan? According to Reason Magazine contributor Daniel Koffler, Obama’s healthcare plan tries to reduce healthcare costs while preserving the freedom to choose whether or not to participate in the healthcare system. Check out LewRockwell.com’s summary of Koffler’s argument here:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019355.html
McCain himself has admitted that economics is not his strong point, so I’ll trust his judgement and look elsewhere for domestic policy guidance. Come to think of it, I think I’ll pass on his foreign policy advice too:
http://parocks.com/mccainoniraq.JPG
Well put, Subrosa. Obama is not by any stretch advocating socialized medicine. He’s not even advocating that the government mandate (force) the people to buy insurance.
Obama’s health plan is actually quite brilliant. Like everyone else (including me and Liberty Girl and even Rush Limbaugh), he wants everyone to have the opportunity to secure health care. However, his approach is far different from other Democrats because he uses market mechanisms to achieve his plan.
He is following the advice of his economic advisor on health policy, Austin Goolsbee, a brilliant Chicago school economist (think Milton Friedman). In a nutshell:
“Goolsbee promotes programmes to essentially democratise the market, protecting and where possible expanding freedom of choice, while simultaneously creating rational, self-interested incentives for individuals to participate in solving collective problems. No wonder, then, that Obama’s healthcare plan is specifically designed to give people good reason to buy in, without coercing them.”
That’s good stuff.
Further, Obama respects the 4th Amendment, while McCain voted to destroy it. Obama respects the 1st Amendment, while McCain has his name on the absurd McCain-Feingold speech regulations. Obama will restore civil liberties while McCain will continue to shred them.
Though, none of this really matters anyway. Presidents cannot implement health care policies or really any policies they run on. This is the stuff of legislators.
The big question is this: What can a President actually do? And of those functions, who is better, Obama or McCain?
Presidents can control troop levels and deployment. Obama will kill far less of our neighbors and our troops than John “100 years in Iraq and bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” McCain.
Presidents can issue and veto Executive Orders. Obama will repeal all of the bullshit Executive Orders that Bush put in place and all others that violate civil liberties.
Presidents can appoint judges. Obama rejects the sort of judicial minimalism that’s been the plague of the courts during the Bush administration.
Presidents are spokespeople to the rest of the world. Obama is much more likeable and level-headed than McCain. Obama will help to restore our country’s image throughout the world.
Lots of Democrats and independents were surprised to find themselves supporting a Republican in Ron Paul. Now, lots of folks are finding themselves surprised to be supporting a Democrat in Barack Obama.
Totally agreed, and nice point on the public schools. I dont like the idea of more gov (look at medicare and social security) I think McCain is on track by giving us dominion over our own choices this will hopefully lead to awareness and more people having the freedom to create new buying groups of their own nationwide…there are some cool possibilities if you think about it.
Another thing to point out is that unfortuntely in the US, insurance (especially health & life) is considered a luxury and many young people and working middle class with a choice of where to spend there money are opting for toys and entertainment rather than planning ahead. Hopefully that will change in the future. Great post and resource links though!
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My experience in the UK, it is to steer well away from any government involvement in Health Care. We have a National Health System which in theory is great but in practice useless & dangerous!
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It is too simplistic to say: I don’t trust the government to handle my health care because they “can’t run public schools.” Last I checked, public schools were a local thing. I went to a perfectly good public school, because our school district was well-off. The people in the next town over have a terrible public school. Nothing to do with the federal government, except in the negative sense that they have done nothing to equalize the situation (whether they should or not is a different question).