On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 04:08:12PM -0500, Mike Miller wrote:
> That could change if McCain becomes President:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16herbert.html
> 
> I suppose the change would be good for someone, but I have the impression 
> that most people don't want to pay tax on their health benefit.

Egads, politics on tclug..  I'm not going to get sucked in, but just to
clarify, from the link: 

 While there might be less money in the paycheck, that would not be
 anything to worry about, according to Senator McCain. That's
 because the government would be offering all taxpayers a refundable tax
 credit - $2,500 for a single worker and $5,000 per family - to
 be used "to help pay for your health care."

So, i'm not an apologist, but to clarify the strategy here, as I
understand it.  The idea is to move the burden of health insurance from
an employer sponsored benefit to an individual family decision.  The
theory is that this will give employees more freedom to move around
since they benefits aren't as important, and it will reduce a lot of
employer overhead in terms of providing such benefits (esp for small
business).  

Consider how auto insurance works.  Individuals can shop around and the
policy that best fits their needs and budget, and they're not limited to
what their employer offers.  

More from the article: 

 Yet another radical element of McCain's plan is his proposal to
 undermine state health insurance regulations by allowing consumers to
 buy insurance from sellers anywhere in the country. So a requirement in
 one state that insurers cover, for example, vaccinations, or annual
 physicals, or breast examinations, would essentially be meaningless.

So the author is showing his bias here.  Currently, each state has its
own set of rules for who can sell insurance and what it has to provide.
Insurance companies have to invest considerable resources for each state
their in in order to meet all of the individual rules and regulations.

Again, like car insurance, the idea is to make health insurance more
simple by removing the individual state regulations and allowing
individual families to comparison shop for insurance nationally.

Agree or disagree, it's thought provoking and worth debate (something
lacking in the current political scene).

Dan (I won't be following up, as we've veered way off topic)