Ohio Union Members: McCain Offers Band-Aid Solutions to U.S. Health Care Crisis

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/05/02/ohio-union-members-mccain-offers-band-aid-solutions-to-us-health-care-crisis/

by Seth Michaels, May 2, 2008

Sen. John McCain arrived in Cleveland yesterday for a high-priced reception at the Intercontinental Hotel. Inside, he met with his wealthy corporate donors. Outside the ritzy event, workers gathered to ask for real solutions to the problems they face.


More than 30 union members brought hundreds of signed band-aids from their fellow workers, a symbol of the need for real solutions to America’s health care crisis.



McCain’s heath care plan, as we’ve noted, doesn’t begin to address the problems facing our nation’s health care system. Instead, policy experts say McCain’s plan is a radical change to health care that would raise taxes rather than cutting costs, and it could push millions out of the health insurance they already have and leave them at the mercy of the insurance companies.


While McCain’s offering band-aid proposals, the AFL-CIO’s 2008 Health Care for America Survey shows Ohioans overwhelmingly say serious changes are needed. Among Ohio residents who responded to the survey, 95 percent say the U.S. health care system needs fundamental changes, 74 percent are concerned they’ll lose their job-based health care and 97 percent worry about health care costs. McCain’s plan does nothing to answer the concerns that Ohio’s working families have.


The numbers tell the truth. McCain’s health care plan won’t do anything about the 47 million uninsured. The tax “credits” he’s proposed would cover less than half the average premium cost. And in addition to cutting back on regulations that protect consumers and ensure quality, McCain’s tax plan would give $1.9 billion in tax cuts to the top insurance companies, while raising taxes on working families’ health benefits.


McCain’s proposal likely would help the health care companies and lobbyists who run and fund his campaign, but it won’t make our health care system better.