Yep, I Still Oppose Creating A New Tax For Working Families

Since I doubt my anger over the administration's endorsement of the excise tax will subside after his meeting with union leaders today, here's an example of the fliers that I was handing out to union members throughout Virginia (and others were handing out to union members across the country):

McCAIN’S HEALTH CARE PROPOSAL Will Increase Costs and Reduce Benefits

John McCain’s health care proposal is similar to President Bush’s failed plan. Like Bush’s, McCain’s plan undermines existing employer-based health care and pushes workers into the private market to fight big insurance companies on their own. It will reduce benefits, increase costs and leave many with no health care at all.

A New Tax on Working Families. McCain wants to shift the burden from employers to workers. He will make health care premiums part of taxable income, essentially creating a new tax for working families.

Increases Costs to Workers. The modest tax credit McCain wants to give people to cover his new tax would cover less than half the average health premium, leaving workers to pick up the difference. Also, by promoting high-deductible Health Savings Account (HSA) plans, which provide fewer benefits at higher costs, he will make the high costs of individual insurance even worse.

Leaves Workers at the Mercy of Big Insurance Companies.McCain’s efforts to “eliminate the bias” toward employer-based health care will encourage employers to stop offering health care, pushing workers into an unregulated private insurance market to fend for themselves. Big insurance companies will be free to weed out people with health care needs, charge excessive premiums and limit benefits.

Makes Health Care Harder to Get. Pushing workers into the private health care market and promoting HSAs will encourage insurance companies to attract only the healthiest people, driving costs up overall. Insurance companies can decide to refuse to cover people with preexisting conditions, such as cancer survivors. Retirees will have a particularly hard time getting health care.

Lowers the Quality of Available Health Care Plans. Many states have laws regulating health care quality by requiring basic services to be included in health care coverage. McCain’s proposal would circumvent these laws, resulting in lower quality coverage without consumer protections.

Things like that flyer (PDF here) are the reason Labor will face such a huge credibility gap with their members if the excise tax remains in the bill.

As ATT Repairman Ron Gay said in this weekend's NY Times story:

“If this passes in its current form, a lot of working people are going to feel let down and betrayed by our legislators and president.”

Obama meets with labor leaders today at 4:30... so we'll know a lot more about the fate of the tax by tomorrow.