WASHINGTON – According to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, the fundamental healthcare question facing America these days is how to slow rapidly rising costs.
The Arizona senator’s platform (supported by his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin) promises to bring costs under control, stop the erosion of affordable health insurance, save Medicare and Medicaid, protect private health benefits for retirees and allow U.S. companies to effectively compete around the world.
“The key to healthcare reform is to restore control to the patients themselves,” McCain says on his Web site. “Healthcare should be available to all and not limited by where you work or how much you make. Families should be in charge of their healthcare dollars and have more control over care.”
McCain is proposing a $2,500 tax credit for individuals and $5,000 for families to allow for the purchase of healthcare insurance. He is also in favor of encouraging the use and benefits of health savings accounts, or HSAs.
“When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options,” he says. “Health savings accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.”
Palin has taken what her supporters call “a strong stand” on market- and business-driven healthcare in Alaska. In January, she introduced the Alaska Health Care Transparency Act to provide consumers with more transparency on healthcare quality and costs. The education of consumers would be overseen by a new state healthcare information office.
Palin has also worked to overturn the Certificate of Need rule in Alaska, which requires healthcare facilities to prove there is public need before building a new facility to compete with an existing one.
“We believe that the (Certificate of Need) program has not accomplished what it set out ultimately to do more than 30 years ago – lower costs for the consumer,” she wrote in a February 25 op-ed piece that appeared in the Anchorage Daily News. “It is time to end Alaska's program in its present form. Doing so will not only reduce the cost of healthcare, it will also improve the access to healthcare, allow more competition and improve quality of care for patients.”