The Objective Observer: I am posting a link to a very detailed comparison chart, that I think will be helpful to Americans, and that all Americans should read and know about before they vote. I think its very illuminating. If you're a McCain supporter, I KNOW you will be learning a lot here about John McCain's health plan, because it's one of the very many things he simply does not talk about at all in any sort of detail.

Here's an example: John talked a bit about autism research during the last debate, and I think Obama had little to say about. But when you look at the comparison chart, which is derived from information culled from both candidates stated health plans, you see that McCain supports federal research into autism, but doesn't say how he'll pay for it, when vows to freeze spending! While Barack Obama has no less than FIVE separate plans for autism research. FIVE more than John McCain! John McCain is by far the supreme winner when it comes to "No Information Available" on a given health issue. ESPECIALLY when it comes to women's health issues (surprise, surprise!). These include:

Health Workforce issues
Eliminating health disparities
Women's health:
Access to health care
Family planning
Women's health research
Domestic violence


CHART (download in PDF form) : http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com...risonChart.pdf

Here is what one (real) voter said about the comparison chart:

What an interesting and informational report! I am a cancer survivor -- so far, and only by the grace of God! I'm not looking for sympathy; however, I am asking that you take a good, good look at the candidates' health care plans before you vote. I was fortunate to be able to keep my COBRA coverage for 18 months when I first became ill -- at a cost of over $1,000 per month! Needless to say, between that cost and seemingly endless medical bills, I nearly bankrupted my family When my COBRA coverage ended, no insurance company would 'touch me'. You don't need all the details, but please understand that Sen. McCain's health care plans would NOT have helped me or my family. The taxes on workers health care benefit payments would not have affected me then, tough I disagree strongly with them on principle. His planned $5,000 tax credit on income at year's end would not have been a drop in a very deep bucket for me. Perhaps if you're young, single, and well, his plans might work, but.....don't plan on getting sick. Barack Obama's the "man with the plan" and already has my vote cast for him during early voting in North Carolina.

This chart was compiled by doctors, and here is the lead-in for the comparison chart by the org that created it:

Physicians for a National Health Program
http://pnhp.org/

With the 2008 Presidential election less than a week away and the devastating impact of the current financial crisis on Main Street and Wall Street, health care must be high on the list of top priorities for America's next Chief Executive to address. The next President of the United States will confront major health policy decisions that will affect the lives of all Americans. Despite spending over $2.4 trillion a year on health care -- 18% of the U.S. GDP and twice as much as any other nation -- the United States ranks only 42nd in life expectancy and 37th in a World Health Organization study on the performance of national health systems. Alarmingly, the United States also has the highest infant and maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world (important indicators of a nation's health status and the quality of its medical system) and Americans receive the right treatment for health conditions only 55% of the time. The U.S. Federal government currently spends more on health care than on Social Security and national defense combined, the next most expensive items, but Americans get the right treatment only 55% of the time. Expenditures on health care in the United States -- already the highest per person in the world -- are predicted to nearly double by 2017, to $4.3 trillion, or 20% of GDP. That means, if this trajectory is not altered, in less than a decade, 20 cents out of every dollar of America's budget will be spent on health care. Currently, more than 75% of health care dollars are spent on patients with chronic diseases, yet an estimated 70% of all chronic diseases are caused by preventable factors, such as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. But despite these statistics, less than 5 cents of every health care dollar supports prevention and public health. Furthermore, global health concerns, including AIDS, TB, malaria and the chronic disease pandemic, have humanitarian, economic and national security implications for the United States.

The next President of the United States will also decide whether to increase our national investment in scientific research, which is the foundation for effective public health and medical interventions, the engine of societal progress, and a cornerstone of innovation for the American economy. Over the past several years, significant reductions in funding -- more than 18% in 2008 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) at the NIH alone -- as well as limitations on types of studies conducted, such as stem cell research, have had a significant impact on the way researchers work, laboratories operate, and universities hire. These reductions are endangering efforts to advance the frontiers of knowledge, to find cures and prevention strategies for the diseases that affect American families, to cultivate the next generation of scientists, and to foster entrepreneurship in the United States including the establishment of new health-related businesses and product opportunities.

Alarmingly, the effects of significant decreases in the purchasing power of funding in recent years for biomedical research are coming at a time of escalating threats to human health. The prevalence of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate, and over 39 new deadly infectious diseases including AIDS, now a global pandemic, have emerged worldwide since the 1970s. Moreover, living in an interconnected global society in which two million people cross national borders each day, infectious illnesses such as avian flu, SARS, AIDS, West Nile virus and the threat of bioterrorism are just a jet plane away. In fact, the controversy last year surrounding the globe-trotting American patient infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis dramatically highlighted not only the vulnerabilities in the public health and national security systems of the United States, but also underscored the urgent need for greater research investments on diseases that may seem to be worlds away.

While many Americans feel uninformed about the views of their elected officials on scientific, medical, and health research, most seem to understand the importance of providing necessary funds for medical studies. A poll conducted by Research!America in February 2007 found that the vast majority of people in the United States believe that science is very important to our health (86%) and competitiveness (78%) as a nation. Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe that scientific research is critical to our economy, 97% of Americans think it is important for the United States to be a global leader in scientific research, and 91% believe that it is essential in eliminating diseases, such as cancer. It is not surprising, then, that 83% of those polled in a 2006 survey indicated that they were more likely to vote for a candidate who supported increased funding "to find cures for and to prevent disease".

With our current sick care system, Americans cannot afford -- socially, politically, economically, or otherwise -- to remain on the sidelines. We have a window of opportunity to establish a real health care system with the upcoming 2008 presidential election. While there is a general consensus between Senator McCain and Senator Obama about the importance of reducing health care costs, expanding insurance coverage, strengthening scientific and comparative effectiveness research, and underscoring the power of disease prevention and chronic disease management, their strategies and methods are starkly different on how to best accomplish these goals.

This article provides a comprehensive side-by-side comparison, in chart form, of the Presidential candidates' health care plans based on information provided on their websites (much of it in their own words) as well as from interviews and statements they have made to the press and in the debates. The updated charts below include a review of the Presidential candidates' proposals including their strategies to increase access to quality health care, combat specific illnesses including HIV/AIDS and cancer, foster scientific and medical research and improve global health. With so much at stake this election year, when voting on November 4th, consider which candidate will write a prescription as President to heal both our nation's sick care system and economy to ensure a healthier and more prosperous future for us all.

__________________

And now the truth comes out.
A patriotic shout.
To the brave men who died for scum like you.
Don't mean to be crass.
But here's a boot in your ass.
If you don't salute the red, white, n' blue.


Sarah Palin For President! http://www.palinaspresident.us/
Bill Ayers for Secretary of Education!

Excellent information. Thank you for posting this.

__________________
He who angers you, controls you!

I call A BIG BS I am a nurse and work with insurance companies NO health care insurance cost 1000 dollars a month that is just stupid. That is as far as I got the rest is most likely some more BS.

Look, this is the second time you post stupid nonsense like this, that contradicts my solid, verifiable evidence, without supporting an ounce of your claims. This is an important subject, and given your extreme lack of knowledge on health care, I wouldn't admit in public I worked as a nurse for a health insurance co. If you wish to remain willfully ignorant, then have the decency to at least say so, because all you are doing here is spreading misinformation thereby making more people ignorant who might believe you.

Othewise, please stop making people like me waste their time trying to educate you, and do some work, damit, on educating yourself. Like I already said. Health care costs differ among different companies, plans and locations. If you for example are operating in the piney woods of North Dakota, then you can't speak for the rest of the country; your "experience", for whatever that amounts to, is not applicable. Now here's me correcting you again with verifiable evidence of a few examples of people paying over $1,000 / month for health insurance around the country. All will be taxed on their benefits under McCain's plan:

Over $1k per month:

http://geekswithblogs.net/jwatson/ar...16/125888.aspx

$14,000 per year in Roanoke, VA

http://www.city-data.com/forum/roano...-virginia.html

Scroll to Rebeki:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/arch.../t-396486.html

__________________

And now the truth comes out.
A patriotic shout.
To the brave men who died for scum like you.
Don't mean to be crass.
But here's a boot in your ass.
If you don't salute the red, white, n' blue.


Sarah Palin For President! http://www.palinaspresident.us/
Bill Ayers for Secretary of Education!

I don't take blogs and huffingpuffing for gospal. I work with insurance and know you are blowing hot air.

Right. So you're saying the random sites I listed showing people talking about the cost of their health insurance on discussion forums, that they are all LIARS. And ALL of the people on the internet who talk about health insurance, and cite costs of $1,000 or over per month are all LIARS.

But you know the "TRVTH" about everyone's health insurance plans in America because of the limited functions of your job in your state. The very same attitute I see you carry about ANY discussion on this discussion site. That no matter the evidence presented to you, you dismiss all of it sweepingly, providing no evidence to the contrary. Look up the word "dogmatist". You have a lot to learn about life.

__________________

And now the truth comes out.
A patriotic shout.
To the brave men who died for scum like you.
Don't mean to be crass.
But here's a boot in your ass.
If you don't salute the red, white, n' blue.


Sarah Palin For President! http://www.palinaspresident.us/
Bill Ayers for Secretary of Education!

Mine does $1287.00 a month to be exact!

So now you're not just a nurse, but an HIT, and a Coder. Which insurance company do you work for?

I oppose both.

__________________
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
Forum Rules and Guidelines: http://www.politicalforum.com/curren...uncements.html

THIS IS "Teeko" engaging in a debate:

As someone else warned me about her, TEEKO is an ideologue. So I predict this "TEEKO" character is not going to answer, and has already ran away, because she knows she can't back up any of her false assertions. She claimed no one in the country pays $1,000 a month for health insurance, because "she works for the health care industry" and just knows. I proved TEEKO wrong, you proved TEEKO wrong. TEEKO said McCain's health care plan won't tax benefits. Despite the fact that this isn't even a point of discussion anywhere in the world, since you have only to go to McCain's site and find out for yourself, TEEKO says she "knows" this is "BS", and doesn't accept evidence that disagrees with her.

I have seen this same pattern all throughout TEEKO's posts. Someone states a fact, TEEKO disagrees by saying "I call BS!". But does not provide a shred of evidence to support her assertions, and does not accept a shred of evidence that counters them! TYPICAL BEHAVIOUR OF McCAIN SUPPORTERS, I find. McCain was right when he told his supporters "they are all Joe The Plumbers". Which meant they are all ignorant idiots, who reject any and all proof and evidence outright, if it contradicts their dogmatic positions, and instead claim that they "know things" by "gut and instinct".

Joe the Plumber made this claim, when queried about his stupid statement that Obama would be the death of israel. How does he "know" this, despite the FACT that Obama is on record as having said the security of Israel is non-negotiable? "Shut up, he just knows, okay." Next we have another dumb loser trotted out by McCain, McCain calls "Tito The Builder". He said he knows Obama is a socialist because he can "smell" it. One of McCains spokespeople was on CNN the other day (Goldfarb), and asked to elaborate on his comment that Obama palled around with anti-semitics. When pressed to name the anti-semite he simply repeated the phrase "We both know who that is". Implying that EVERYONE is as ignorant as dogmatic McCain supporters.

If the dumbing down of America weren't so sad and pathetic, it'd be funny. In fact, they made a movie of these Americans, called "Idiocracy".

__________________

And now the truth comes out.
A patriotic shout.
To the brave men who died for scum like you.
Don't mean to be crass.
But here's a boot in your ass.
If you don't salute the red, white, n' blue.


Sarah Palin For President! http://www.palinaspresident.us/
Bill Ayers for Secretary of Education!