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Politics Heat Up Health Insurance Coverage: Small Business Health Insurance at Issue
October 2008
With Election Day coming fast, it's no surprise that both Barack Obama and John McCain have resurrected their health insurance coverage plans and promises in an effort to reach swing voters who might still be undecided.
And small business health insurance seems to be a pretty hotly contested topic.
At odds is whether or not the employer based insurance system should be completely dismantled, or strictly regulated, and whether or not tax credits could provide workers with enough money to purchase a decent health insurance coverage plan for themselves and their loved ones.
McCain's camp insists that employee insurance, and particularly small business health insurance plans that have suffered due to rising costs, simply need to go. A tax break for those employers who provide coverage would be repealed, and in its place individuals and families would receive tax credits they could use to go out and buy new coverage.
Detractors argue that the tax cuts wouldn't be enough to provide a family with coverage - at least not enough coverage to matter - and that the individual market is too competitive for those used to the more flexible group policies offered through large and small business health insurance. Group policies don't reject applicants based on pre-existing conditions, a reality that could leave millions uninsured should they be forced into an unregulated individual market.
But on the other side of the argument, Obama's health insurance coverage plan could be very costly, particularly since government subsidies would be required to help those who can't afford their coverage. And quality of care becomes another concern, with many questioning what kind of treatments would be available under such a plan.
Neither plan is without its faults, though with the economy struggling as it is, consumers wonder if Obama's plan is feasible.
At the same time, business owners are less than enthusiastic about McCain's plan, arguing that it would make small business health insurance obsolete, and do little to reduce the number of uninsured that struggle with medical debt and health related costs.
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