Healthcare issues have been at the forefront of the race for the White House in 2008. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain have all proposed different plans to fix our system. In this series we will discuss the pros and cons of each plan. Read Why John McCain's Health Care Plan Will Work. Does John McCain's "straight talk express" really deliver a quality program to the American people?

Simple Economics

McCain's ideas are playing with fishy economics. His vision promotes competition, under the premise that competition will reduce costs. His plan hopes that these costs would be reduced enough to make insurance affordable to Americans with a history of major diseases, like cancer. This would hardly be the case. Competition may make some prices more affordable, but it does absolutely nothing when it comes to helping Americans with bad medical histories get coverage. The Senator's plan does nothing to give coverage to the people that actually need it. There is no negative for companies who deny claims. The current, privatized system has a lot of competition and reform is still one of the main issues. Competition does not equal success. The initiative also allows for people to seek treatment outside of state lines. This would also allow insures to move their operations to states in which consumer protection laws are weak.

Not Universal

McCain's vision is about as far away as you can get from universal. The Senator's plan does nothing to reduce the ranks of the uninsured, and will not help the 47 million Americans currently living without insurance. The McCain initiative would dislodge state regulations. Regulations that would be dislodged include:

ER Care

Diabetes Care

Mental Health Parity

Off-Label Prescription Drug Use

Chiropractors

Final Word

John McCain's vision does not seem to be in the best interest of the American people. It seems to rehash an old plan by George W. Bush that already has failed. It has long been conservative politics to deny universal coverage because, those who are dealing with a lack of care, aren't really a key demographic to conservatives.