# Will Obama's Universal Healthcare Plan end up incorporating McCain's ideas?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-universal-healthcare-plan-end-up-incorporating-mccains-ideas/489526>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 15, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-universal-healthcare-plan-end-up-incorporating-mccains-ideas/489526 "2009-03-15T15:42:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-obamas-universal-healthcare-plan-end-up-incorporating-mccains-ideas/489526/1 "2009-03-15T15:42:15Z")

</div>

[Taxing healthcare benefits](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss) provided by employers in on the table. That money could help fund provision of benefits for others. Which was the bit of McCain’s plan that had made sense.

> [@](#):
>
> The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system.  
> The proposal is politically problematic for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as “the largest middle-class tax increase in history.” …tax-free benefits encourage what Mr. McCain called “gold-plated” policies, resulting in inefficient and costly demands for health care and pressure on employers to hold down workers’ pay as insurance expenses rise. And, they say, the policy discriminates against those — many of whom are low-income workers — who do not have employer-provided coverage. … Also, Mr. Obama’s own idea for raising revenues for health care — limiting the income tax deductions that the most affluent taxpayers claim — has run into opposition … Those who want to tax benefits in whole or in part make two main arguments. They say the tax exclusion is a generous subsidy that insulates employees from the true costs of health care, leading them to demand more of it and driving up overall costs. Critics also say the policy is unfair because it favors higher-income people. “It’s too regressive,” Mr. Baucus said. “It just skews the system.”

Now I have [for years proposed this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7270140&postcount=12) as part of a three part reform:  
[ul]  
[li]A universal mandate with graduated tax credits to aid in purchase of insurance from private and/or public sources.[/li][li]Same product by the same company same price whether bought by MegaCorp or individual Joe Blow and with no pre-existing condition exclusions.[/li][li]Decrease or even eliminate the regressive payroll tax subsidy.[/li][/ul]During the campaign Clinton touted Part 1, McCain Part 3, and Obama had focused on Part 2 sort of. Honestly his proposals during the campaign were his weakest bit. But if he can indeed incorporate the best parts of Clinton’s and McCain’s proposals then we may actually get to what I’ve been advocating for all this time.

Oh why wouldn’t anyone just listen to me in the first place?! 🙂