Comparing Obama and McCain on health care
Senator Barack Obama’s health care plan would concentrate health care decision-making in Washington, while Senator John McCain’s would return many health care decisions to families, according to two in-depth analyses by Heritage Foundation health care experts Robert Moffit and Nina Owcharenko.
Senator Obama’s plan “would likely precipitate a rapid evolution toward a federal monopoly over the health care sector,” they explain.
In his top-down plan, there would be “standardized federal health benefits structure, a massive expansion of federal regulatory authority over health insurance, and an enlargement of federal regulatory power over health care delivery.”
» Read more details about both candidates’ plans on MyHeritage.org
The McCain plan is likewise ambitious, they argue in their second analysis, but his measures “would advance greater personal choice and control in the health care system.”
Notably, his plan alters the way health insurance is taxed so that individuals aren’t penalized if they do not buy coverage through their employer. This plan takes “the first steps to realigning the incentives in the system to provide consumers with better quality care at lower cost.”
Senator McCain’s plan “is underscored by a principled commitment to personal freedom,” they conclude.
—David Talbot
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. David Talbot contributed to this report.
