Will Obama or McCain Lower the Uninsured Numbers?

A health care research foundation, Commonwealth Fund, believes that Obama will will this contest on who covers more. Reuters reports that Obama's plan would lower the number of uninsured Americans by 34 million within 10 years, where McCain's covers 2 million. This is quite astonishing, and devastating to McCain's numbers.

Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, says, "[Obama has a] plan that tries to deal in a serious way with the uninsured," said president of the Commonwealth Fund, Karen Davis. "He doesn't eliminate it, but in my view he cuts it in half over a 10-year period." One thing that the Reuters report does not mention is that Obama's plan will prove to be very costly. The Senator assures he will be able to pay for all his proposals, health insurance plan included, but we shall see.

Merrill Matthews, in the Wall Street Journal, favors one of John McCain's health insurance proposals. That proposal would be buying health plans across state lines. He states that numbers of Americans already have policies across state lines. An example is a college student in another state being covered at home. He argues this as well as the fact that many companies who sponsor plans already cover employees in other states.

An example? Members of the U.S. Senate, including Obama and McCain, who don't live in Washington D.C. but get health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Offering health insurance plans across state lines will give consumers more health insurance options, says Matthews. The piece was written by health care policy guru Merrill Matthews, who is executive director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance.

What Matthews doesn't mention is that it might be irresistible for health insurance companies to move to a less-regulated state where they are not required to cover mandated benefits and have fewer restrictions in turning people down for coverage. Not such a good proposition for people with health conditions. Still don't know which candidate has health care and insurance reform down pat? Neither do we.