THE AD:
"Health Solutions," 30-second TV commercial
WHERE TO SEE IT:
Local TV, or www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAHcA0igE7w.
SCRIPT:
John McCain: "I'm John McCain and I approved this message. There's many, many solutions to this problem."
Announcer: "Bold solutions for America's health-care mess. Straight talk to provide portable, affordable health care. Require millionaires to get off prescription drug subsidies. End junk lawsuits that tax consumers. Lower prescription drug prices through importation programs. Bold new solutions. Not tired, old politics."
VIDEO:
The ad opens with McCain walking toward the camera, next to the banner "President McCain" and above the text "www.johnmccain.com." He speaks a line in an interview setting. Then the words "Bold solutions" appear next to his still photo as the announcer's voiceover begins, followed by the words "Portable Affordable," "No subsidies for millionaires," "End lawsuits" and "Prescription drug importation" - all over the background of a stylized, blue-filtered montage of the same text and of medical personnel in motion. The spot closes with the banner "Bold" next to a shot-from-below headshot of McCain looking into the distance, over his name-and- star campaign logo. The word "Solutions" bleeds in under "Bold."
ANALYSIS:
The ad started running Friday night in Ohio as McCain capped a week focused on health care that opened with a speech outlining his proposals. Supporters and critics agree they would be "bold" in changing the current system.
The core of McCain's agenda is a $5,000 tax credit for families ($2,500 for individuals) to shop for their own insurance, an approach he says would reduce costs through competition. The government would send the money directly to insurers. Workers who get coverage through their employers (71 percent of insured Americans) would be taxed on the value of job-provided insurance. The average cost of a family policy nationally is about $12,000, accord ing to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
McCain also called for individuals with incomes over $80,000 annually to pay more for Medicare Part D prescription drug benefits ("no subsidies for millionaires"). He has voted to allow the legal purchase of medicines from Canada as a way of attacking drug costs.
It is unclear what is meant by "junk lawsuits," how they "tax consumers" or how they would "end," except by limiting access to the civil justice system. Studies are at best inconclusive about the effects of tort reform on medical malpractice premiums, and rates have not dropped in states where the system has been revised. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found courts acted efficiently to throw out baseless suits.
RATING:
The ad is accurate in highlighting McCain's proposals and makes no untrue claims. But because of the unanswered questions it raises and because it is as yet unclear how his plan would cut health-care costs, we give it a Whiff of Doubt.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
tferan@plaind.com, 216-999-6251