The Obama plan, meanwhile, gives birth to a bouncing new bureaucracy: the National Health Insurance Exchange...The October 3, 2008 Washington Post also does a little fact-checking on Biden's claims about the McCain plan during the recent Vice-Presidential Debate. They conclude that his criticisms are misleading:
Over time, for that matter, some federal entity would have to decide what would be added and subtracted by the public plan -- in order to control costs, among other reasons. Former Sen. Tom Daschle, a longtime universal health care proponent and Obama adviser, has touted his idea for a Federal Health Board to make those sensitive choices. That also makes us nervous.
Joe Biden gave the impression that most Americans would be worse off financially as a result of Sen. John McCain's health-care proposals. He drew on a study by the journal Health Affairs to suggest that 20 million people would lose their company-provided health insurance under the McCain plan. He failed to note that the same journal calculated that another 21 million people would be able to afford health insurance for the first time because of tax credits offered under the McCain plan.The Washington Post therefore awarded Biden "TWO PINOCCHIOS" for "Significant omissions or exaggerations".
...According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the McCain proposals would result in a net benefit of $1,241 to the average taxpayer in 2009, $895 in 2013, and $386 in 2018. Taxpayers in the top quintile would be slightly worse off by 2018, but other taxpayers would be slightly ahead.
(Disclaimer: FIRM does not endorse either McCain or Obama.)
