Obama hits McCain on healthcare

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama went after GOP rival John McCain on healthcare Saturday, portraying the Republican’s approach as another attempt at deregulation. 

Over the past few weeks, Sen. Obama (Ill.) has blamed the economic crisis partly on free-market financial policies supported by Sen. McCain (Ariz.) and Republicans. Obama extended that attack Saturday to McCain’s support for a free-market solution to high healthcare costs.

{mosads}In an address in Newport News, Va., Obama pointed to a quote by McCain in the magazine for actuaries, “Contingencies,” that shows his support for more deregulation. McCain said, “Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition as we have done over the last decade in banking would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.”

To that, Obama replied: “That’s right, he wants to deregulate the insurance industry just like he fought to deregulate the banking industry. And we’ve all seen how well that worked out.”

However, the McCain campaign has refuted the Democrat’s claim, saying that the Arizona senator’s statement was a discussion of a small sliver of healthcare.

The Obama campaign said it would also release a new television ad Monday that describes McCain’s healthcare plan as “the largest middle-class tax increase in history.” McCain’s plan seeks to provide individuals and families with healthcare tax credits while imposing a tax on healthcare benefits that workers obtain through their employers.

“A $5,000 tax credit, that sounds pretty good,” Obama said in his speech. “But what Sen. McCain doesn’t tell you is that the average cost of a family health care plan these days is more than twice that much – $12,680. So where would that leave you?”

Obama has held a strong advantage over McCain on healthcare. In an August Gallup poll, 56 percent of voters preferred Obama on the issue while 34 percent liked McCain.

The Democratic presidential nominee has proposed guaranteeing healthcare coverage for all Americans and reducing the healthcare premium for a typical family by $2,500. Obama would require healthcare companies to provide insurance to all who sought it and would give healthcare tax credits to low-income Americans. Obama seeks to pay for his healthcare proposals by repealing President Bush’s tax cuts on those making more than $250,000 a year.

Obama’s emphasis on healthcare comes as domestic policy has dominated the news. On Friday, the House passed and the president signed into law a $700 billion rescue package allowing the government to buy up the distressed mortgage assets of financial firms. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the economy lost 159,000 jobs last month, making September the worst month for jobs in five years.

Obama’s move could put even more pressure on McCain, who has fallen behind in national and state polls, as the economy has become more of an issue, said political analyst Charlie Cook.

“I am not sure there's a lot I would criticize the Obama team for,” said Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report. “They've played almost flawlessly the last month.”

McCain has criticized Obama’s plan to repeal the tax cuts, saying that many Americans who make slightly more than $250,000, especially small business owners, would suffer. More taxes would also hinder attempts to create jobs, McCain has said.

“I know that the worst thing we could possibly do is to raise taxes on anybody, and a lot of people might be interested in Sen. Obama’s definition of ‘rich,’” McCain said during their first presidential debate last month.

McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, on a conference call with reporters, called Obama’s ads “cynical and deceitful” and said that his attacks demonstrate a “lack of honor.”

Holtz-Eakin stated that McCain’s plan wouldn’t be a tax increase since his proposed tax credit would come on top of health benefits workers already receive from employers. He also dismissed Obama’s suggestion that McCain would deregulate the healthcare system like he has deregulated banking. He likened McCain’s proposals to past measures that allowed consumers to access ATMs in separate states. He added that states’ regulations would still be in place under McCain’s proposals.