Douglas Holtz-Eakin told the New York Times that, to attempt to cover people who fall through the (rather substantial) cracks in his health care plan, McCain would help pay for state “high-risk pools” by redirecting money “from existing federal programs that pay for uncompensated medical care, primarily in hospitals.”

Translation: Holtz-Eakin wants to eliminate some portion of the $7.8 billion in federal support for “Disproportionate Share Hospitals,” or DSH, which serve especially high numbers of poor and uninsured patients. This money is “the largest source of federal support for uncompensated care for uninsured patients.”

States across the country have used DSH money to provide “essential funding to many safety net hospitals” and “maintain access to health services for low-income patients.” States are already fighting back against Bush’s proposed sweeping cuts to Medicaid and changes to health regulations that shift costs to state and local governments, and John McCain is offering more of the same.

As a study by the National Health Policy Forum concludes, “in the absence of a viable plan to broadly expand health insurance coverage, support for providers that serve low-income patients will become increasingly critical.” But John McCain’s plan would leave millions of Americans without health insurance, so his disregard for DSH funds is a bit disturbing. Read more

The New York Times today did a good job pointing out that some people “could” pay more in taxes under the McCain plan. But the reality is that there is growing evidence that McCain has a massive new health tax as part of his plan, as this blog first discussed earlier. While the press typically portrays Democrats as the tax-and-spenders, McCain is on the verge of changing that paradigm with a plan that could have American’s spending $334 billion more in taxes over 10 years.

McCain’s advisors have confirmed that the spending under his tax credit plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, roughly the same amount that the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated would be spent by President Bush when he announced a similar policy. In the first year, the JCT estimated that the Bush policy would spend $220 billion in the first year.

This means the McCain’s spending on health reform is twice the price tag as Senators’ Clinton plan and Senator Obama’s. (Note: Senator Obama only describes his plan’s costs net of savings, but the Washington Post has published a cost estimate.)

Not only is the spending level very different between the Democrats and McCain, but the sources of funds vary as well. McCain would roll back the longstanding tax break for all 160 million Americans who obtain insurance through their employer. In contrast, the lower spending Democratic plans pay for health reform by rolling back President Bush’s tax cuts on the highest income Americans. Read more