McCain's "healthcare plan" appears designed to punish both marriage and childbearing. And no, I don't just mean because it won't actually provide universal coverage or address the market failures of privatized health insurance. I mean even if you do it the courtesy of taking it on its own terms.
McCain's plan involves refundable tax credits that can be used to purchase health coverage—in the amounts of $2,500 for an individual and $5,000 for a family.
In other words, the McCain campaign thinks it doesn't cost anything to insure children.
The plan was announced back in April, but I haven't seen anyone do this apparently obvious math: The average cost for a family health insurance plan is nearly three times that of the cost for a single person's plan. It's definitely more than the double they're offering.
But McCain's plan would give families no additional resources beyond what a married couple (or an unmarried couple for that matter) get. Am I missing something?
It's even possible that if parents chose not to marry they could score $7,500, if the family rate also applies to unmarried parents with children. And here I thought Republicans were supposed to be trying to get rid of marriage penalties in the tax code.
But I suppose we shouldn't expect anything better from a guy whose (supposedly former) healthcare advisor thinks that no one in America can be called uninsured as long as they won't be turned away at the (government-subsidized) emergency room.
Photo, "One Stop Shopping," by swanksalot.
