McCain's health plan on right track

Run-away medical costs and expensive, hard-to-get medical insurance go hand in hand. It is a crisis in America, with very different visions between Democrats and Republicans about how to solve the problems.

Most Democrats would like a Canadian-style single payer, socialist health care system run by the government. The thing to keep in mind is that Canadians vote with their feet. Due to rationing of so-called "discretionary" surgeries, long waits and substandard care, the Canadians who can afford it come to the U.S. for heart surgery, hip and knee replacements and other procedures.

Hillary and Obama, after Hillary's famous healthcare fiasco in Bubba's first term, downplay the government's role, stressing private health insurance but heavily subsidized by the federal government, along with onerous mandates on business to provide health insurance to their employees. Most suspect that the idea is to prove that private health insurance doesn't work, necessitating getting the government into the healthcare business.

John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, was in Denver today talking about his healthcare plan. It would decouple health insurance from jobs, giving each family a $5,000 a year tax credit for purchasing their own health insurance. McCain believes the plan would create competition among insurance companies for the business, and bring prices down. Since each individual is responsible for his own care, he will shop carefully for both insurance and care when he needs it, bringing health care costs down.

This free enterprise, supply-and-demand solution has a much greater chance of success than some heavy-handed federal government scheme. By rationing health care and mandating below-cost reimbursements to physicians and hospitals for providing care, the failure of the Barack and Hillary's system is a self-fulfillling prophecy.

It goes back to the old saying "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see how much it costs when its free!"