Republican presidential candidate John McCain intends to discuss details of his health care reform plans today during a speech in Iowa. McCain previewed his ideas Wednesday afternoon during taping of an Iowa Public Television program.
"There’s a long list of…steps we need to take, but I’m against a single-payer, big government solution," McCain said. "Take a trip up to Canada or to England if you think that that works."
As a means of getting more Americans covered by insurance, McCain proposes a $2500 tax credit for low income Americans — up to $5000 for a family — to encourage the purchase of a private insurance policy. McCain also proposes a new government initiative that would help Americans who lose their insurance when they lose a job.
"We ought to give them a minimum health care insurance policy so that at least they’re protected from catastrophic or serious medical requirements as they’re moving from one job to another," McCain said.
In addition, McCain favors new laws that would make it more difficult to sue doctors for malpractice in order to help reduce malpractice insurance costs. McCain also advocates a shift away from paying for procedures and instead proposes paying for results.
"If someone has a chronic disease…which is 75 percent of health care costs, we should pay ’em by the year and by the result of their care as opposed to each procedure that they went through," McCain said.
McCain intends to discuss his health care reform ideas over the noon hour in a speech before a Des Moines Rotary Club.