John McCain unveiled a health care plan Tuesday that emphasizes tax credits to help Americans pay for insurance, wading into an issue that has at times dominated the debate among his Democratic rivals.
McCain is proposing a $2,500 credit for individuals and a $5,000 credit for families that decide to obtain health insurance directly from providers, instead of through their employers.
In a speech in Tampa, Fla., McCain stressed the importance of relying on free-market principles to reduce health costs. He said his plan would "help change the whole dynamic of the current system, putting individuals and families back in charge, and forcing companies to respond with better service at lower cost."
He also knocked the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which include mandates requiring Americans obtain coverage.
Clinton's plan requires that all Americans enter into coverage while
Obama's requires that children be insured.
The debate over how to provide insurance to the 47 million uninsured Americans has often taken center stage in the Democratic debate. Since revealing their plans last year, Clinton has criticized Obama's plan for lacking a mandate that she believes would provide health care for all Americans, while Obama has countered that his plan would be more effective in lowering costs.
Unlike
McCain's, both Democrats' plans call for new government programs that would provide insurance that Americans could choose instead of their employer-based plans. Both also call for the plans to be partially funded by government subsidies and the repeal of the President Bush's tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year.
Health care ranks as the third or fourth
issue most important to Americans in recent polls, behind the economy, the Iraq war and gas prices.
McCain plans to spend more of this week talking about his proposals, and his campaign is running a new ad in Iowa outlining them. Watch the
ad here and read some of McCain's health care speech in Tampa after the jump.
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