McCain and Health Care

Today on my drive in to work, I was listening to NPR. Which, by the way, as a kid I couldn't understand why my parents preferred talk radio over music. I thought it was very uncool. Now that I'm all "grown up" (or trying to grow up) listening to the news radio in your car is a great way to catch up on news.

ANYWAY, today one of the topics was health care. Clinton and Obama have similar plans with only extreme details that differ whereas McCain's plan couldn't be more opposite. Did you know that there are 47 million people in the U.S. who do NOT have any type of health coverage? Well, I knew it was high but that number caught me off guard. My risk analysis side of me definitely started "freaking out" for lack of better words. Yes, there are some included in that number who opt out because they feel they don't need it or they have the money to live without insurance, but the majority are people who simply cannot afford it. To me, that's a HUGE problem. If someone wants/needs health care, they should be able to get it.

McCain doesn't think so. Again, shocked, I continued to listen. While I couldn't be more against McCain I thought, I'd really like to hear his reasoning as to why these 47 million people don't matter to him. He said that unlike Clinton and Obama, he doesn't believe in universal health care. Understandable, there are many people who don't. But then he continued, he said:

"I don’t think that there should be a mandate for every American to have health insurance. I think that one of our goals should be that every American own their own home, but I’m not going to mandate that every American own their own home. I think that every American should have, be available to, an affordable college education. But I’m not going to mandate that every American go to college. I feel the same way about health care. If it’s affordable and available, then it seems to me that again, it’s a matter of choice amongst Americans. "

I went online today and found that these comments were made sometime around October 2007. He proposes a tax credit to families to pay for their health care. But did he honestly have to compare health care to owning a home or going to college?! Where does this guy come from?? He of all people, seeing that he's 71, should understand that college is a luxury. I literally laughed out loud while driving alone in my car. And owning a home? Well Mr. McCain, we are in a housing crisis so comparing the situation to everyone owning a home is probably not the best timing.