Here is McCain's take on health care, from a speech in 2007:
Quote:
We are approaching a "perfect storm" of problems that if not addressed by the next president, will cause our health care system to implode. Here is what we know: First, we currently spend 2.2 trillion dollars -16 cents of every dollar we spend - on health care. By 2015, just seven years from now, that number will nearly double to four trillion dollars. Second, by 2019 Medicare will be broke. We are currently spending more on Medicare than we are collecting in payroll taxes and cashing in the few IOU's left in the trust fund. In the meantime, more and more of our retirees' social security checks will also go to pay for Medicare leaving our seniors with less money for their everyday expenses. Third, by 2017 more money will be going out of social security than is coming in. The next president must act to avert the impending "storm."
For all the grandiose promises made in this campaign, has any candidate spoken honestly to the American people about the government's role and failings about individual responsibilities? Has any candidate told the truth about the future of Medicare? Its costs are growing astronomically faster than its financing, and leaving its structural flaws unaddressed will hasten its bankruptcy. Has any candidate warned that we have a personal responsibility to take better care of ourselves and our children? Yet that is the only way to prevent many chronic diseases. Has any candidate insisted that genuine and effective health care reform requires accountability from everyone: drug companies, insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, the government and patients? Yet that is the truth upon which any so-called solution must be based.
Democratic presidential candidates are not telling you these truths. They offer their usual default position: if the government would only pay for insurance everything would be fine. They promise universal coverage, whatever its cost, and the massive tax increases, mandates and government regulation that it imposes.
I offer a genuinely conservative vision for health care reform, which preserves the most essential value of American lives - freedom. Conservatives believe in the pursuit of personal, political and economic freedom for everyone. We believe that free people may voluntarily unite, but cannot be compelled to do so, and that the limited government that results best protects our individual freedom. In health care, we believe in enhancing the freedom of individuals to receive necessary and desired care. We do not believe in coercion and the use of state power to mandate care, coverage or costs.
I believe Americans want to be part of a system that offers high quality care; that respects their individual dignity and is available at reasonable cost. Unfortunately, the American health care system as it is currently structured fails this test. It is too expensive. It insults our common sense and dignity with excessive paperwork, disconnected visits with too many specialists, and by elaborately hiding from us any clear idea of what we are getting for our money. We must reform the health care system to make it responsive to the needs of American families. Not the government. Not the insurance companies. Not tort lawyers. Not even the doctors and hospitals.
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Obama's plan sounds great, but who will pay for it? According to the Obama piece above, employers will. Our economy is already in turmoil.
Forcing employers to pay for employees health care will mean that companies across the economic spectrum will be forced to raise prices to defray those costs. This will lead to higher inflation. It will also lead to those employers having to lay people off or reduce hiring, thus increasing unemployment.
I agree with McCain that one of the biggest problems in health care in the US is that, as a consumer of health care services, I have no idea what things cost.