McCain campaign responds to Obama healthcare attack
From The Bristol Herald Courier (Original Link)
Posted on June 10, 2008
Published: June 5, 2008
The Bristol Herald Courier sent John McCain’s campaign a synopsis of criticisms leveled earlier today in Bristol by Barack Obama. McCain spokesman Crystal Benton issued the following rebuttals.
Here is what was sent to McCain’s campaign:
Sen. Obama kicked off his national campaign in Bristol, Va., today. He made several references to Sen. McCain. I present them below and the opportunity for your campaign to respond.
Obama said since Bush took office, health care premiums have increased at four times the rate of wages and that 7 million more Americans were added to the rolls of the uninsured. He said Sen. McCain’s health care plan would “drive up costs”—$20 billion alone for administration - and was “Bush-lite.”
He criticized Sen. McCain’s opposition to the Webb GI bill. “We shouldn’t keep folks in our military by giving them bad benefits.”
Obama said Sen. McCain’s “basic economic policy” was to continue the Bush tax cuts and add $300 billion in cuts for corporations. He added that if McCain fulfills his promise to save money by getting rid of pork projects, the savings still would only amount to $18 billion a year. “If you make $250,000 a year or more, you’re going to pay a little more in taxes after I’m president of the United States,” Obama said. “If you make $75,000 or $50,000 or $25,000, you’ll get a $1,000 middle-class tax cut. If you’re a senior and make $50,000 or less, you won’t pay income taxes on your Social Security at all.”
Obama described McCain’s gas-tax holiday as a “gimmick - that’s what politicians do to get through the next election.”
Here were the answers supplied by Crystal Benton:
Please see our campaign’s response to Barack Obama’s remarks at a town hall event in Bristol, Virginia where he attacked John McCain’s health care proposal, despite McCain’s articulated proposal for a $5,000 per-family tax credit and greater affordability and accessibility to care:
“Barack Obama’s has no record of bipartisan success on this issue and his proposal to put the government between Americans and their health care is a plan that even his allies on Capitol Hill think is unrealistic. Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain has the experience to understand that big government bureaucracy discourages competition, threatens our quality of health care and ensures the inefficiencies and frustrations Americans will not stand for. John McCain believes that families should make the decisions about their care, not the government, which is why he’s proposed a $5,000 per-family tax credit and proposed major overhauls to encourage more affordability and accessibility to care.” ---Tucker Bounds, spokesman John McCain 2008
The Bristol Herald Courier sent John McCain’s campaign a synopsis of criticisms leveled earlier today in Bristol by Barack Obama. McCain spokesman Crystal Benton issued the following rebuttals.
Here is what was sent to McCain’s campaign:
Sen. Obama kicked off his national campaign in Bristol, Va., today. He made several references to Sen. McCain. I present them below and the opportunity for your campaign to respond.
Obama said since Bush took office, health care premiums have increased at four times the rate of wages and that 7 million more Americans were added to the rolls of the uninsured. He said Sen. McCain’s health care plan would “drive up costs”—$20 billion alone for administration - and was “Bush-lite.”
He criticized Sen. McCain’s opposition to the Webb GI bill. “We shouldn’t keep folks in our military by giving them bad benefits.”
Obama said Sen. McCain’s “basic economic policy” was to continue the Bush tax cuts and add $300 billion in cuts for corporations. He added that if McCain fulfills his promise to save money by getting rid of pork projects, the savings still would only amount to $18 billion a year. “If you make $250,000 a year or more, you’re going to pay a little more in taxes after I’m president of the United States,” Obama said. “If you make $75,000 or $50,000 or $25,000, you’ll get a $1,000 middle-class tax cut. If you’re a senior and make $50,000 or less, you won’t pay income taxes on your Social Security at all.”
Obama described McCain’s gas-tax holiday as a “gimmick - that’s what politicians do to get through the next election.”
Here were the answers supplied by Crystal Benton:
Please see our campaign’s response to Barack Obama’s remarks at a town hall event in Bristol, Virginia where he attacked John McCain’s health care proposal, despite McCain’s articulated proposal for a $5,000 per-family tax credit and greater affordability and accessibility to care:
“Barack Obama’s has no record of bipartisan success on this issue and his proposal to put the government between Americans and their health care is a plan that even his allies on Capitol Hill think is unrealistic. Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain has the experience to understand that big government bureaucracy discourages competition, threatens our quality of health care and ensures the inefficiencies and frustrations Americans will not stand for. John McCain believes that families should make the decisions about their care, not the government, which is why he’s proposed a $5,000 per-family tax credit and proposed major overhauls to encourage more affordability and accessibility to care.” ---Tucker Bounds, spokesman John McCain 2008
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Let Consumers Lead Price Efficiencies into Health Care
David H @
June 10th, 2008 - 1:03 PM
Like all industries, the best way to improve affordability within the healthcare sector is to promote "consumerism". This has always been the best way to determine market winners and losers by allowing consumers to take a bigger role in deciding how they can best maximize their healthcare dollars. By promoting tax breaks and allowing individual conusmers to shop for the best overall value per insurance plan, treatments and healthcare providers based on their family's needs- we can bring improved efficiencies and natural market forces to bear. Do you think government (besides some basic catastrophic coverage) will really be the force that drives down the cost of health care?
Insurance premium costs, dental coverage
@
June 11th, 2008 - 6:23 PM
I have a Master of Science, Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine with honors so I know a little about medicine. Furthermore, I grew up with a father who was a professor emeritus in Ear, Nose & Throat and head & neck fellow at a top teaching medical school.
Too many Democratic senators have become lobbyists for the Drug Conpanies (example: Sen John Breaux, D-LA). Lobbying for the Drug Companies are very lucrative. Reason to leave the senate post.
Most alarming is the rising price of health care that even McCain's proposed increase in HSA's will not be enough to provide enough relief to most people. I have a BC/BS ppo. Last December BC/BS sent me a letter that they were increasing my deductible by $200 (from $1700 to $1900) so that they would not have to raise the monthly premiums as they had been doing on a n annual basis. Less than two months later, I received a letter that BC/BS would additionally be increasing the monthly premiums more than the roughly $35/month they had been doing for th past few years to an additional $85/month! So now my premiums are $545/month for ONE single person age 58 in reasonably good health and a deductible of $1900. I can't wait to see what they do next year! Now who can really afford this?
DENTAL: not one of my friends working for even the feds or a large company like Shell Oil has satisfactory dental insurance. Worse, the dentists do not have to take a Hippocratic Oath like medical doctors do which makes abuse and their top and bottom line greed (patient last). Both my parents suffered terribly with dentures and us baby boomers would like to try implants. Ever price dental implants? outrageous! I have gotten quotes from $7,500 for only two and that does not include anything else like the special crowns that go with them --which I had a quote on $1,200 each until my dentist took pity on me (guilt?) because he had been paid a large fortune for bridges and crowns that failed after only a few years. Something must be done about this!
Marie, Master of Science, Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Too many Democratic senators have become lobbyists for the Drug Conpanies (example: Sen John Breaux, D-LA). Lobbying for the Drug Companies are very lucrative. Reason to leave the senate post.
Most alarming is the rising price of health care that even McCain's proposed increase in HSA's will not be enough to provide enough relief to most people. I have a BC/BS ppo. Last December BC/BS sent me a letter that they were increasing my deductible by $200 (from $1700 to $1900) so that they would not have to raise the monthly premiums as they had been doing on a n annual basis. Less than two months later, I received a letter that BC/BS would additionally be increasing the monthly premiums more than the roughly $35/month they had been doing for th past few years to an additional $85/month! So now my premiums are $545/month for ONE single person age 58 in reasonably good health and a deductible of $1900. I can't wait to see what they do next year! Now who can really afford this?
DENTAL: not one of my friends working for even the feds or a large company like Shell Oil has satisfactory dental insurance. Worse, the dentists do not have to take a Hippocratic Oath like medical doctors do which makes abuse and their top and bottom line greed (patient last). Both my parents suffered terribly with dentures and us baby boomers would like to try implants. Ever price dental implants? outrageous! I have gotten quotes from $7,500 for only two and that does not include anything else like the special crowns that go with them --which I had a quote on $1,200 each until my dentist took pity on me (guilt?) because he had been paid a large fortune for bridges and crowns that failed after only a few years. Something must be done about this!
Marie, Master of Science, Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Hands off my wallet
@
June 12th, 2008 - 4:40 PM
As a consumer I am concerned about the rise of cost for anything that affects me, let alone something as important as my health. However I am not looking forward to more and more involvement of unwelcomed outsiders.
Being well under 40 my generation knows nothing more than expanding entitlement costs and growing deficit spending. Generations ago the government could offer Social Security to retirees over 65 when the normal life span was under 65. But the problem is that the people that are going to be paying for the coming aging out of society are not even born yet. The biggest thing that bothers me is that I have been paying into a system since I was 17 that won’t be there when I retire.
So let people figure it out for themselves, I am sure that’s what my generation will have to do.
Being well under 40 my generation knows nothing more than expanding entitlement costs and growing deficit spending. Generations ago the government could offer Social Security to retirees over 65 when the normal life span was under 65. But the problem is that the people that are going to be paying for the coming aging out of society are not even born yet. The biggest thing that bothers me is that I have been paying into a system since I was 17 that won’t be there when I retire.
So let people figure it out for themselves, I am sure that’s what my generation will have to do.
