I'm not wasting my vote on Obama. He is only up 2 pts in the Gallup poll http://www.drudgereport.com/ He won't win with just two pts, the polls always lean to the Democrats side. At this time in 2004 it was 49 /49 but President Bush prevailed by 3 pts... and he was campaigning against the Democrats and the Media same as McCain /Palin...
McCain's plan taxes the value of the health plan, not the specific medical bills as Bwolinski said in his original post. This is offset by a $5000 tax credit. I think Bwolinski should vote for Obama if that's his choice...no problem. However, he doesn't understand McCains health plan even remotely...nor do you. OldTrader
Today, McCain was out on the hustings with...believe it or not... Joe The Plumber. Joe was apprently talking about the situation in the Middle East and was saying that he didn't think Obama would be the best choice if you're worried about the ME situation amd Israeli security. This is official, remember. The RNC is now using this guy as a spokeman. Who in the fuck is in charge down there? Of course, it's beautiful irony that the RNC has Joe speaking about this issue. The one point that the Republicans should have hammered home, the one point that has some stickiness to it, is that as a liberal who was trained at PC-central, Obama tends to want to placate and engage anyone, regardless of the threat they pose. He is trained to believe that Ahmadinejad's views have relevance and must be heard and considered. Of course, that's not true. They should have spent less time talking about how he's a socialist and more time talking about this. Why did the Republicans miss this? Hmmmm... let's see. How many idiots on here spew shit like 'The Jews are this..' and 'The Jews are that...' and 'The Heebs are responsible for all the world's problems...' and on and on. Sound familiar? Some of the people in this thread have taken a dump here in P & R posting this idiocy. I thought it was the Dems that were supposed to be worse for Israel, but Anti-Semitism seems to be cornered by the whack-job right wing around here.
Apparently not -- I understood that McCain would tax health benefits (Not medical bills, of course, I'm not sure that's what he was posting -- I'd have to reread the OP) -- and then offset that by taking $5000 from the rich and socialism socialism give it to families of the poor as a subsidy, while charge the employee (and possibly the employer?) taxes on the benefits. That's why I posted a link to an article about it. Frankly, it's arcane. If you can shed some light on it I'd appreciate it. My impression of it at first glance is that it's kind of like the whole "school voucher" idea and will simply drive up the cost of health insurance by the amount of the subsidy. (If everybody has that amount, prices in a market will rise to absorb the extra and maintain the same net cost for the customer.)
You said that the poor could get their health care for free -- and if 2000 had to line up and travel from other states obviously most are not able to get their care for free or they wouldn't be traveling out of state and camping overnight.
As Independent traders we get screwed on insurance costs. We pay with after tax dollars. Heath is one of the biggest corporate welfare programs around. Corporations get billions in tax deductions for health care. Why do we force companies like GM to maintain whole divisions and thousand of employees to administrate health programs. I thought they build cars, let them focus on car building. Get rid of the corporate heath cost deduction then they can outsource to a proper heath company With unemployment rising it is not good to have insurance tied to employment.
What the OP says is that he totals his bills up, and that it then puts him in a $35K higher tax bracket. So, I gather he's adding his bills to his income. Either way, I'm not trying to interpret what HE thinks the McCain plan is...I think he's quite confused. I say let him vote Obama. By the way, that $5K all taxpayers get, not just the poor. The employer is taken out of the equation as I understand it. I believe they lose the corporate deduction for health care. OldTrader
Explain value of the health plan. My plan paid 35k to me, and you're saying that wouldn't be the value of my health plan?
WTF does this say! Directly from the McCain website: Where Is The Middle-Class "Tax Increase"? If you or your family is in the 28% bracket, with an income of $180,000, you could receive employer provided health insurance even better than a Member of Congress, with a cost of almost $18,000, with no increase in taxes. Even the liberal leaning Tax Policy Center, agrees that the McCain proposals will result in a "net tax benefit" of more than $1,200 for an average tax payer. A recent Lewin Group study estimated savings of more than $1,400 per American family â almost three times the savings as under the Obama plan This reads that if I make $180,000, I would pay $18,000 for my health care, which is a tax, net $13,000 after tax. WTF IS THIS!