Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel, Part II

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy advisor for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, was initially thrust into the public eye when he falsely claimed last month that McCain was responsible for the creation of the BlackBerry. After those comments, many people felt that the McCain camp would keep Holtz-Eakin away from all cameras and microphones. Well, luckily we were wrong.

Holtz-Eakin discussed the various features of McCain's health care policy today with CNNMoney.com. One of the most important aspects is that, under McCain's plan, all employees would be taxed on the value of their health insurance for the first time in U.S. history. Second, all employees would lose the tax exemption for company sponsored medical benefits but would instead receive a refundable tax credit of $2,500 for individuals or $5,000 for families purchasing qualifying health insurance. So what did Holtz-Eakin have to say? Discussing the likelihood of younger, healthier employees abandoning their company sponsored plans, he stated: "Why would they leave? What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit." He does know who he works for, right?

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