Fairborn — When Michele Takacs lost her job last year, the family's
health insurance options were little to none: Go with an expensive
health plan offered by husband Ken's employer, a local automobile
dealership, or nothing at all.
The Takacses chose the latter.
"If I was to get a family plan for medical where I work, we're
looking at almost $800 (a month). I spend that much on after-school
care for my daughters," said Ken Takacs, 60, the father of two girls,
ages 9 and 8. "So we just decided that, except for the medical issues I
had, we could probably get by for three or four months without worrying
too much."
The Fairborn family got by for nine months, then Michele got a job with affordable health benefits.
"I trusted in the right power," Ken Takacs said.
Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain would have Takacs trust them, too.
Under Obama's plan, Takacs could tap into a new National Health
Insurance Exchange to find an affordable private plan or purchase a
public plan similar to the one that covers members of Congress. The
price would be based on the Takacs' income and subsidized by the
government if needed.
Obama would pump up to $65 billion a year into subsidies, money that
would come from repealing President Bush's income tax cuts for those
earning more than $250,000 a year.
The Takacs' daughters, Grace and Faith, would be required to have
insurance even if their parents didn't have a plan. The children might
qualify for expanded federal-state programs such as Medicaid and the
State Children's Health Insurance Program, commonly known as SCHIP.
McCain would give the Takacses a $5,000 tax credit to help buy an
insurance plan of their choice anywhere in the United States. The
government would send a check directly to the insurance provider.
The problem with that plan, according to critics, is the average
cost of a family insurance plan is around $12,000 a year, and that's if
the employer sponsors it. McCain aides note that less expensive plans
are available, and that other changes they call for, such as reforms
that reduce the number of medical lawsuits, would help bring down costs.
McCain would fund the proposal, in part, by taxing workers'
employer-contributed health premiums, which are currently exempt. He'd
then send a tax credit — $2,500 for individuals, $5,000 for families —
to offset the cost of an insurance plan with or without an employer.
The Takacses also might benefit from McCain's Guaranteed Access
Plan, or GAP, where the feds would work with states to establish a way
to cover patients who lost or have been denied insurance.
One approach would establish a nonprofit that would contract with
insurers to cover the patients. It could join with other state plans to
enlarge pools and lower overhead costs.
Ken Takacs, who is undecided about his choice for president, sees
problems with both plans. He doesn't believe, as McCain does, that
insurance companies would drop health plan prices because of increased
competition. He thinks they'll collude instead to keep prices and
profits high. He'd also prefer $5,000 "cash in hand" instead of a tax
credit.
As for Obama's plan, he thinks health insurers, drug companies and
perhaps providers "will do everything in their power and spend millions
of dollars to lobby against it" like they did again the Clinton plan in
the early 1990s.
"I think there's more (forces) against Obama," he said, "unless he
does what he talks about in uniting the masses of public opinion and
creating social change somehow to get the American people to say, 'I'm
tired of it and I'm not going to take it anymore.' "
Source: Daytondaily
0 comments:
Post a Comment