Now, it’s time to look at McCain’s ideas. Remember, I am a conservative, so I’ll probably agree with more of McCain’s ideas.

For John McCain, I deleted his explanation and just put in my comments. View the entire paragraphs at his website. Again the quotes are from the website and everything else is my comment.

“Making Health Insurance Innovative, Portable and Affordable

John McCain Will Reform Health Care Making It Easier For Individuals And Families To Obtain Insurance.”

McCain wants to use competition and eliminate area lines for health coverage. This is going to tick (I changed to tick at the last minute) off some space insurance commissioners. Insurance is governed by the state. They do need to create universal policies, as they did with Medicare supplements. This is a lot of work and I’m not certain it can be done.

“John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage.”

Here, you resolve your plan and the government pays the premium to the company. This makes sense, because if they sent the money to all individuals to pay their plan, you all know someone’s not going to do it. This section is what the commercial Obama runs that says, “and the money goes to the insurance companies.” (This is said in an ominous voice.) Of course it does, it pays the premiums. You can also choose your employers plan. It also allows for those that are frugal and don’t use all the money, to have it put in a Health Savings Account.

“John McCain Proposes Making Insurance More Portable.”

This is not just Cobra or coverage for preexisting conditions, but the ability to keep the insurance even if you retire early or become a stay at home parent.

“John McCain Will Wait On And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) For Families.”

A Health Savings Account is like an IRA for medical costs. The money is yours and it goes to your children. It combines with a high deductible and if the money isn’t needed, you can get a higher deductible the next year. The cost of the catastrophic plan (the high deductible insurance) is low and much of the premium goes into the Health Savings Account. This plan has been around a while be he’s expanding it and I’VE ALWAYS LOVE THE Belief! It’s super tidy and puts the consumer in charge of his medical expenses.

“Health Care Costs.”

This allotment is rhetoric and of no value.

“CHEAPER DRUGS: Lowering Drug Prices.”

I hadn’t read the entire understanding prior but am doing it as I write the article. I’m glad to see that this is also in McCain’s plan, just as it was in Obama’s.

“CHRONIC DISEASE: Providing Quality, Cheaper Care For Chronic Disease.”

Okay, I made fun of something like this on Obama’s plan but McCain went on to define that emphasis would be placed on early prevention, and building up the health care industry by focusing on preventive medicine. John isn’t planning on sitting by anyone’s bedside either.

“COORDINATED CARE: Promoting Coordinated Care.”

I had to use McCain’s own words for this. For anyone that has ever had any treatment of any kind from a hospital, this is heaven sent. I drove myself in to the emergency room when my heart raced over 250 bpm. The doctor slapped an ice pack on my neck and it cost me $3000, I consider. I kept getting so many bills and there really weren’t that many people that saw me. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what the heck you’re paying for, this should be your highlight. Here’s the direct quote.

“We should pay a single bill for high-quality disease care which will make every single provider accountable and responsive to the patients’ needs. “

ONE bill!!! It’s about time.

“GREATER ACCESS AND CONVENIENCE”

Government promoted walk-in clinics in retail outlets.

“INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY”

Use more Internet services, which allow doctors to cross spot lines to practice.

“MEDICAID AND MEDICARE”

McCain’s beget words

“We must reform the payment systems in Medicaid and Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention and care coordination. Medicaid and Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.”

“SMOKING”

Offer free smoking cessation programs. (Yeah, like I’m going to take him up on it)

“STATE FLEXIBILITY: Encouraging States To Lower Costs”

This gives the states the right to find alternative ways to insure members under Medicaid.

“TORT REFORM”

Again, I’ll use McCain’s words.

“Passing Medical Liability Reform. We must pass medical liability reform that eliminates lawsuits directed at doctors who follow clinical guidelines and adhere to safety protocols. Every patient should have access to legal remedies in cases of abominable medical practice but that should not be an invitation to endless, frivolous lawsuits.”

“TRANSPARENCY”

Give the patient more information. If you go to a good doctor, you already should have this. If you don’t, find another doctor.

“Confronting the Long-Term Challenge

John McCain Will Acquire A Strategy For Meeting The Challenge Of A Population Needing Greater Long-Term Care.”

McCain opened the subject but had nothing definitive. He wants to find alternatives to the system before its too late. Babes and younguns’ we baby boomers are soon to be a huge group of senile citizens. Daily, I seek information from whether I’ve crossed the line yet. I’m disappointed there was no firm understanding, but glad at least it was mentioned.

Stop at the candidate’s websites and see what the platforms are yourself. This is my interpretation. You need to read and decide it for yourself.

Barack Obama on Health Care:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/#make_health_insurance_work

John McCain on Health Care: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

With today’s society allowing business to be performed easily with a click of a mouse, it is no wonder the internet has grown to allow the entire world to be connected 24 hours a day. It has allowed many people to quit their jobs, move across the world, and become self-employed. Individuals, who would have normally worked for a company, have now found the pleasures of being their have boss. Technology has opened many new age business practices where email and instant messaging is the preferred source of communication with clients. Becoming your own boss takes self-discipline. The sure luxuries like health insurance and a 401K plan, which we may have taken for granted while working for a corporation; now is an extra added expense which has to be considered.

Things like health insurance which is automatically included in many full time positions, now must be researched, compared, and considered. Usually the monthly cost can be much more expensive since the self-employed individual is now paying the entire bill, not impartial a small percentage.

What are the options available for a person who chooses to work for themselves?

If the individual was working fleshy time for a corporation, many health insurance companies will offer 18 months of Cobra after leaving the company. The cost for Cobra is 102 percent and the plans coverage stays exactly the same. If you had Cigna as the health insurance provider under their PPO plan, when Cobra begins, all your doctors and benefits do not change. Prices range from $300 a month for an individual through $1500 a month for family coverage.

Self-employment allows deductions to be taken out for health insurance as well. The general rule is the health insurance has to be established through the business; just paying Cobra to continue the coverage does not follow this rule. By taking the full income made and subtracting half for your self-employment taxes, plus taking out any other deductions (IRA), the left over money is the amount you are allowed for health insurance expenses. This can only occur when you are fully paying your own benefits.

Depending on the type of business can lead to different coverage options. For example, freelance writers have different organizations they can join. A benefit of associating with career groups is health insurance companies then offer discount plans to the organization and their members. This would be the first step to research after the Cobra option.

Another option is a discount health plan. Instead of health insurance coverage, the individual has a choice of medical, dental, and vision plans. A monthly fee is paid and certain doctors and practitioners are in the network. This means certain physicians participate in the discount opinion and accept the partial payment. The individual is responsible for the remainder of the doctor’s bill.

Other discount plans will have the patient pay the entire bill to the doctor, which is already at a discounted price, and then send a claim form into the company. For example, the doctor’s bill with the discount is $50.00, the patient pays the pudgy amount before leaving the office. The claim form gets sent into the discount health plan by the patient, and two weeks later, a check for $40.00 arrives. The total cost for the one doctor visit was $10.00 out of pocket.

With many of the health insurance options being offered for self-employed workers, prescreening, referrals, and rules pertaining to the amount of visits allowed per year can apply. Researching all the options before deciding on the idea which best suits your individual or family needs is suggested. Websites can give free quotes for the health insurance companies or discount health plans.

If you find making a decision is too difficult with all the options on the internet, there are insurance agents who can help explain the pros and cons of each. Finding an agent who is reputable can be found through referral services or by asking other self-employed businesses.