Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
McCain Adviser Who Attacked Dems' Health Reform Now Facing Insurance Nightmare
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign, “remains unemployed — and his COBRA health coverage is running out,” the Washington Post reports. “Irony of ironies, it gets worse. Holtz-Eakin, who is about to start shopping for insurance on the individual market, is 51. And he has one of those pesky ‘preexisting conditions’ that insurance companies often cite in denying coverage”:
Holtz-Eakin said he’s been paying about $1,000 a month to extend the private health insurance he received on McCain’s campaign through the government’s COBRA program, but that will expire in a few months. This is the first time in his life he has not had employer-provided health coverage. “I worry about where I go next in the way many Americans do,” he said.
During the campaign, Holtiz-Eakin fervently defended McCain’s proposal to shift more Americans out of their employer-sponsored coverage and into the individual health insurance market. “The key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves,” Holtz-Eakin said in August. “Instead of only getting it in the employer market, you would get it regardless of your source of insurance. And you get the same amount whether you’re rich or poor, $5,000 for every working family.”
| Also in Health and Wellness | |||
| Senate Votes to Move Forward on Health-Care Bill: McCain Accuses Reid of Criminal Scheme In debate leading to vote, McCain compared Reid to Madoff, Hatch invoked socialism, and Lincoln promised trouble ahead Post by Adele Stan. November 21, 2009. |
Video: Progressive Change Campaign Committee Robocalls For the Public Option Anticipating GOP push-back on the Senate health-care bill's public option, PCCC marshals a show of support Post by AlterNet Staff. November 20, 2009. |
Americans Want a Health Surtax on Wealthy An AP poll indicates majority support for a health surtax on the rich that's even stronger than the one in the House bill. Post by Daniela Perdomo. November 18, 2009. |
|
EMAIL
PRINT
10 COMMENTS
PERMALINK