A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life

A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
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I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Fairness and Truth in Politics #5: Health Care

Both candidates mislead in reference to their own health care plan and the plan of their opponent.

Barack Obama says that his plan will reduce the annual health care premiums of families on average by $2500.00 per year. Experts say this is wishful thinking.

John McCain states that his plan will give a $5000.00 health care tax credit to every American. Actually, it is $2500.00 per person; and for most middle class individuals the tax credit will end up being a wash anyway, since McCain's plan also proposes the repeal of the tax-exemption on employer-provided insurance.

Barack Obama asserts that John McCain would tax an individual's health insurance benefits. This is simply not true.

John McCain tells us that Barack Obama is going to mandate government-run health care. In actuality, Obama's plan is quite different from the government controlled plans of Canada and some countries in Europe.

Sources: FactCheck.org

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

5 comments:

doodlebugmom said...

Wouldn't it be nice if fact checker thing would instantly come up on our TV screens as we watched the debate last night? Like they scroll the bad weather reports. =)

Michael said...

These conflicts borne of an intent to destroy the opponent rather than actually inform voters only tell me that neither of them is fit for the office.

Allan R. Bevere said...

Doodlebugmom:

I would definitely vote for that!

Michael:

I am not sure I want to say that neither Obama or McCain are fit for office, but the lack of honesty is quite troublesome; it seems that it has become somehow intrinsic to the campaign system. Quite unfortunate indeed.

ChrisB said...

Technically McCain's plan gives $2500/person or $5000/family. Yes it is a wash for most people with employer based insurance, but that's the point -- to give self-payers the same benefit. It's also part and parcel of an attempt to make insurance more portable.

As for Obama's plan, while it's technically true that Obama's plan doesn't call for a universal single payer system, it sets things in motion such that one would be almost inevitable. I guess that makes McCain's statement more a matter of opinion than fact, but it is an opinion held by many economists and health care experts I've read.

Allan R. Bevere said...

Chris:

The point of the post is what the candidates are saying as opposed to what is in fact true.

I grant the point you make about McCain in your first paragraph, but my point is that he should not be proposing this as some kind of savings for the tax payer, when no one will save money. By the way, I like McCain's plan better then Obama's.

As far as what you say about Obama's plan-- yes, that is certainly possible, but it is by no means clear that it is inevitable.