by Seth Michaels, May 20, 2008

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain paid a visit to Chicago, and Chicago union members were there to meet him.

The Chicago Federation of Labor organized the event, which brought 25 union members to a convention center where McCain was speaking. Bearing signs reading “It’s Time to Turn Around America,” these volunteers asked whether McCain would put forth policies to help working families or whether he’d continue the anti-worker Bush agenda.

The union members kept the focus on health care, handing out leaflets and asking why McCain has proposed a health care plan that would create a new tax on working families without cutting costs or covering more people. Millions could lose coverage and be left on their own at the mercy of insurance companies.

An article today by scholar Robert Gordon in Slate examines how McCain’s health care plan could make our current system even worse.

Sick people can’t get coverage they can afford. It’s as though the rafts are reserved for people who already have life preservers. Americans with pre-existing conditions—cancer, asthma, diabetes, and the like—would need to pay even more than they do today. Through no fault of their own, more of them would end up without insurance. Meanwhile, insurers would improve their own profits by offering targeted policies to people with the fewest health expenses. As with the history of credit cards, it’s Robin Hood in reverse. Apart from the obvious injustice, this approach could add to spiraling health costs. The sickest 10 percent of Americans are already responsible for 70 percent of the nation’s health expenses. When more such Americans go uninsured, skip checkups, and land in the emergency room, they end up costing taxpayers more.

Everywhere McCain goes during his campaign for the presidency, he’s facing these same questions from AFL-CIO union members who know that the next president needs to pay attention to working families. Hopefully, he’ll start listening and propose real solutions to the challenges in our economy.

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