the future of health care?

is anyone else a little bit alarmed about john mccain's health care proposal?

here is a little tidbit from business week describing his plan: if you don't want to read the whole thing, the highlights are this:

McCain wants to do away with the tax exemption on employer-provided insurance. Instead, he would give a $2,500 annual tax credit to individuals, and $5,000 to families, to purchase their own coverage.

McCain's plan is meant to encourage individuals to purchase their insurance and free companies from the heavy cost of providing coverage. His theory is that employees would take their tax credit and flock to the open market, where they could shop around for the plan that best meets their needs. Insurance companies would have to become more competitive to win their business.

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey released last year found the average annual premium of an employer-based insurance policy is $12,000, of which employees pay about one-third.

so let me get this straight...my current individual health care plan is paid partially by myself and partially thorough my employer. under mccain's plan, my employer would probably not cover employees anymore due to loss of the tax credit. and then i'm supposed to go out and shop for private insurance with a measely $2,500? what the? has anyone seen the prices for private health care insurance? do you think $2,500 is going to cover it? did you see the survey they quoted where the average policy is $12,000? not sure if that is family or individual, but either way mccain's tax credits aren't even close to that number.

insurance companies are NOT going to lower their premiums that much just because you let people loose on the market. gah! i don't understand how anyone can think this is a good idea? if i'm missing something here please feel free to comment. but i have a hard time believing mccain's plan isn't going to cost families MORE in the long run, not less. in fact, if you look at the example from the article, insurance costs about $12,000 per year. currently employees pay about $4,000 of that if the figure of 1/3 is accurate. under mccain's plan, if the cost of insurance is $12,000 and you apply the mccain tax credit of $5,000, you are now paying $7,000 per year out of pocket instead of $4,000. That's actually $3,000 MORE! hello????????