The article noted below published in the New York Times yesterday gives just a glimpse into the fact that NEITHER candidate for President has a truly credible health plan.  In fact, if they were really interested in real health reform, you would see many of the ideas listed in “The Plan” that has been put forward on this site incorporated into their proposals. However, save for some rhetoric from Mr. Obama about preventing insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and some rhetoric from Mr. McCain about assisting individuals via tax incentives to buy health insurance, there is little substance to their plans.  Mr. Obama’s cannot be sustained financially and Mr. McCain’s does not solve the access issue.  In the end REALH HEALTH REFORM, that purports to keep the “best” of the private insurance system while expanding opportunities for coverage to all through federal GUIDANCE (not necessarily only direct intervention), can only be achieved by adoption of the majority of the items outlined in “The Plan”.  Let’s only hope that someone who actually understands health care will read it and share it with the candidates . . . jomaxx

On Health Plans, the Numbers Fly

Economics, it is said, is the dismal science. Anyone paying close attention to the campaign debate over the economics of health care might wonder about the science part.

As Senators Barack Obama and John McCain battle over how best to control spending and cover the uninsured, they are both filling their speeches, advertisements and debating points with authoritative-sounding statistics about the money they would save and the millions of Americans they would cover.

But the figures they cite are invariably the roughest of estimates, often derived by health economists with ideological leanings or financial conflicts. Over time, these forecasts have become so disparate and contradictory as to be almost meaningless . . . read the entire article @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/us/politics/22health.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin