McCain Likes Retail Clinics, Drug Imports and Tax Credits

Its too bad we can't clone some of these candidates into one great candidate.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Like many Republicans, McCain is pushing for new tax credits that would put individual insurance on a more equal footing with employer-sponsored insurance He wants safety protocols that would allow importation of cheaper drugs from foreign countries, a possible cost-saving measure that has been loudly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. He’d also support clinics in retail outlets, which have been spreading rapidly despite objections from many doctors’ groups. “I don’t think there should be mandates for health insurance.” “I’m not gonna force Americans to do it. I don’t think that’s the role of government….If we bring down health-care costs more Americans are going to be able to afford it.” “We’re going to have to have a Medicaid fund that will provide those people with sufficient funds to get health insurance.” “You will be gauged and paid by how” well the patient fares. “We should not be paying for medical errors.”

McCain Likes Retail Clinics, Drug Imports and Tax Credits
Posted by Jacob Goldstein

John McCain will be talking health care this morning with a bunch of journos, including the WSJ’s Laura Meckler. Click here to watch a live video feed of the event, which starts at 11 a.m. Eastern.

Like many Republicans, McCain is pushing for new tax credits that would put individual insurance on a more equal footing with employer-sponsored insurance. But he also calls for other, more controversial steps.

He wants safety protocols that would allow importation of cheaper drugs from foreign countries, a possible cost-saving measure that has been loudly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. He’d also support clinics in retail outlets, which have been spreading rapidly despite objections from many doctors’ groups.

McCain describes his health platform here, and the Health Blog wrote about it here. His talk today is part of a series of candidate forums organized by the Federation of American Hospitals and Families USA and hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. .

Several candidates have already appeared at the forum. Read our posts on what Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich and Hillary Clinton had to say.

We’re liveblogging McCain’s talk.

11:10 Sounds like he’s reading from his Web site, listing one idea after another — tort reform, transparency, biotech generics, curbing costs, etc.

11:14 “I don’t think there should be mandates for health insurance.” He’s distinguishing himself here from Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, who have called for mandates. His Republican rivals haven’t called for national mandates. “I’m not gonna force Americans to do it. I don’t think that’s the role of government….If we bring down health-care costs more Americans are going to be able to afford it.”

11:18: He touches what for some docs is a third-rail of health-care economics: pay for performance. He suggest, for example, that a heart-surgery team be told: “You will be gauged and paid by how” well the patient fares. He adds: “We should not be paying for medical errors.” Medicare has taken tentative steps in this direction already, but it’s been pretty limited so far.

11:25: He explains the rationale for his tax credits ($2,500 for individuals, $5,000 for a family) for individuals to buy their own insurance. “When it’s their money and it’s their decision, I think they make much wiser decisions than when it’s provided by somebody else.” And, like a good Republican presidential candidate, he quotes Ronald Reagan: “Nobody ever washed a rental car.”

11:28: Under questioning, he agrees that the credits alone won’t be enough for everybody. Federal money will be needed to cover people who are unable to find affordable insurance because they are chronically ill. “We’re going to have to have a Medicaid fund that will provide those people with sufficient funds to get health insurance.”

11:31 Health-savings accounts have been popular with wonks, but not so much with consumers. McCain’s a fan: “I still think they are a great idea for Americans,” he just said in passing.

11:38: McCain explains why he voted against the Medicare drug benefit. “It was intended for people who were low income Americans, but we covered everybody. We also put in provisions, thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, that we won’t allow” negotiation for the price of the drugs. But he says it would be politically unrealistic to roll back the program if he were elected. If i were dictator — a nice thought — I’d say let’s look at who really needs this Medicare Part D.”

11:40: In answering the Part D question, he adds another note that the pharma industry isn’t going to like: “We know that the pharmaceuticals from Canada are perfectly safe — they’re just cheaper.” He’s said he’d support importation of drugs.

11:43: McCain voted against the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. He says there was “a lot of smoke and mirrors” in the bill, and the fight over it was “another indication of how bitterly partisan we are here in Washington.”

11:46: On the overuse of new medical technologies: “It certainly is one of the great contraditions in America today that every time we make it better and easier to treat people in America the costs go up rather than down.” He suggests that this is in part because doctors practice defensive medicine to avoid liability lawsuits. And he says the way Medicare reimburses can be an incentive for doctors to perform unnecessary procedures. He’s called both for tort reform and for re-structuring the way Medicare payments are made.