John McCain's Health Care Plan Makes Me Queasy, But I Can't Afford a Doctor

Someone must have shown John McCain a newspaper, because he's finally figured out that health care — plus war heroism, of course — is a top issue for voters in this election. So, yesterday, McCain unveiled a health care proposal of his very own, an original plan that he came up with all by himself…

McCain's proposal is similar to one that Bush put forth in his 2007 State of the Union address. That plan, which would have replaced employer tax breaks for health insurance with a $15,000 tax deduction for married couples, flopped in Congress, failing to get even a committee hearing.

Okay, with a little help from his friend George. That's what friends do! They help each other. John McCain learned that back in 1859, when he was in kindergarten. Besides, if you look at the details of his plan, you'll see that it's actually very creative…

The McCain campaign said that its plan to give tax credits to encourage more people to buy insurance on the open market, instead of getting it through their employers, would not cost the government any more than the current system does. The plan calls for giving $2,500 tax credits to individuals and $5,000 credits to families to buy insurance.

That means this asthmatic, nearsighted, ulcer-ridden blogger would have a cool $2,500 with which to purchase a plan that would keep me in pills and inhalers for life. Sweet!

Wait a second, is $2,500 really enough to do that?

Some health care experts question whether those tax credits would offer enough money to pay for new health insurance plans. The average cost of an employer-funded insurance plan is $12,106 for a family, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy group.

Aw, I knew it was too good to be true. So where would the extra thousands of dollars come from? McCain didn't say, but my guess is he'll make up the difference by raising taxes on Imaginary-Americans. He does seem to think there are a lot of them.