Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Breakin' It Down II

In an earlier post (Breakin' It Down) I referenced a recent Newsweek that discussed how the candidates would spend our money if they were elected. Today the health care edition (otherwise known as where the most money is going):


Obama: His plan lets small biz and regular joes purchase a plan that is similar to the health care that Congress gets. Yeah for the little guys! And as he and Clinton have gone round and round over in the debates, he mandates coverage for kids. Expanding Medicaid and SCHIP, as well as subsidies, would cover those who can't afford his plan's rates. During his first term he would put $240 billion toward this.


Clinton: She would exceed Obama's spending, putting $400 billion towards health care in her first four years. To cover all Americans, Clinton wants to use tax credits help keep premiums for a family at a fixed percentage of their incomes. She would also expand Medicaid and SCHIP.


McCain: Apparently health care is not one of McCain's big areas of focus. Rather than detail anything he would do, Newsweek looks at the area he would spend the most cash on—defense. Shocking! Currently the Congressional Budget Office says that we are spending $10 billion a month in Iraq for combat operations. To keep that going for four more years (Mac has pledged to keep our troops there for 100 years if necessary), comes in at $550 billion.


So . . . billions to make sure America is healthier or billions to continue to fight a war we aren't winning, in a country that doesn't want us there. That is some interesting math.

1 comment:

Rev Wes Isley said...

Isn't it safe to say that we all are at greater risk of dying from cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes or maybe even monkey pox than a terrorist attack? So, if we're going to spend billions, let's go the health care route.