Comparing Obama and McCain on health care
October 23, 2008 | By Nathaniel Ward
Senator Barack Obama's health care plan would concentrate health care decision-making in Washington, while Senator John McCain's would return many health care decisions to families, according to two in-depth analyses by Heritage Foundation health care experts Robert Moffit and Nina Owcharenko.
Senator Obama's plan "would likely precipitate a rapid evolution toward a federal monopoly over the health care sector," they explain.
In his top-down plan, there would be "standardized federal health benefits structure, a massive expansion of federal regulatory authority over health insurance, and an enlargement of federal regulatory power over health care delivery."
» Read more details about both candidates' plans on MyHeritage.org
The McCain plan is likewise ambitious, they argue in their second analysis, but his measures "would advance greater personal choice and control in the health care system."
Notably, his plan alters the way health insurance is taxed so that individuals aren't penalized if they do not buy coverage through their employer. This plan takes "the first steps to realigning the incentives in the system to provide consumers with better quality care at lower cost."
Senator McCain's plan "is underscored by a principled commitment to personal freedom," they conclude. Nevertheless, the lack of available details raises questions about whether these reforms will be undermined by increasing government interference.
—David Talbot
The threat from voter fraud
"ACORN is a symbol of just how vulnerable our election system is to fraud," Wall Street Journal columnist and leading expert on voter fraud John Fund said Monday at The Heritage Foundation.
Fund, whose revised book Stealing Elections covers voter registration shenanigans by ACORN and similar groups, told the audience in Lehrman Auditorium that disasters loom if this fraud go unchecked.
The 2000 presidential election fundamentally challenged the legitimacy and credibility of incoming Presidents, he said, and threatened to replace the "margin of victory" with the "margin of litigation." It was a warning, he added, upon which we need to act.
» What's the biggest challenge to fair elections? Click here to find out
» Heritage's Hans von Spakovsky has appeared on television several times recently to explain the dangers of voter fraud. Watch online: on Fox News, again on Fox News, and on CNN.
—David Talbot
Why cities are important to freedom
Thanks to a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the American Spectator is publishing a ten-part series of articles on the components of individual liberty as it evolved in the West and the state of individual liberty in the future – not only in the West but in the rest of the world.
In the latest article in the series, Brian Anderson, editor of City Journal, discusses the importance of cities to the rise of freedom in the West. The article originally appeared in the October, 2008 issue of the American Spectator.
» Download the article in PDF format
Other Heritage work of note
- The federal government's plans to purchase stakes in financial institutions could rebuild "confidence in the banking system and restarting the credit markets," Heritage economist David John says. But he warns that "the action is also a dangerous one" which has the potential to leave "a legacy of political control of the financial system, threatening the efficiency of markets and the principle of private ownership."
- Did deregulation under President Bush cause the financial crisis, as the Left claims? Heritage expert James Gattuso says the answer is no. "Financial services were not deregulated during the Bush Administration. If there ever was an 'era of deregulation' in the financial world, it ended long ago. And the changes made then are for the most part non-controversial today."
- Congress is considering another economic "stimulus" plan, and Heritage economist Bill Beach testified Monday on Capitol Hill about the difficulties with this sort of government handout. Watch video of his testimony on MyHeritage.org or read his testimony online.
In other news
- Hawaii has scrapped its program to provide universal health care to children for an utterly predictable reason: many parents dropped their existing private coverage to take advantage of the "free" state plan, dramatically increasing the costs of the program. The same is certain to happen with any federally-sponsored health insurance program, like that liberals now propose.
- Liberals hope to use the threat of harmful and intrusive regulation of carbon emissions by the Environmental Protection Agency as a bludgeon to force lawmakers to pass their favored big-government energy policy, the Wall Street Journal reports. Heritage members can tell the EPA what they think of their proposed regulations at StopEPA.com. Meanwhile, another report suggests lawmakers intend to use their new carbon taxes principally as funding source to pay for their lavish domestic spending agenda (subscription-only link).
- USA Today reports that the proposed General Motors-Chrysler merger was inspired in part by a desire to become "too big to fail" and thus qualify their faltering businesses to be propped up by taxpayer funds.
- European leaders are in China this week for a summit with Asian countries on the economic crisis.
Upcoming webcasts
All webcasts will be shown live on MyHeritage.org. Recordings will be made available for online viewing after the event concludes.
- On Monday, October 27 at 7:40 p.m. Eastern, Sen. Tom Coburn explains the importance of holding to first principles when making policy at an event sponsored by the New York Area Committee for Heritage.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage's website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.
- On Monday, October 27 at noon, former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh joins a panel of Heritage experts to discuss the importance of not overreacting to the economic crisis by creating still more criminal offenses covering economic activity.
- On Tuesday, October 27 at noon, author William Tucker explains how nuclear power can help solve our energy and environmental problems.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. David Talbot contributed to this report.
