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Don't Tax My Health Care!

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2008

Regarding "Both McCain And Obama Offer Health-Insurance Headaches" (Our Opinion, Sept. 29):

I just read about the McCain-Palin health care plan and, as a recently diagnosed cancer patient fighting for my life, I am outraged! McCain's plan would tax employer-paid health benefits. That means that as I undergo chemotherapy every other Friday to shrink the tumors in my chest, I'll also be receiving less money in my paycheck - so I will be paying for my illness twice!

Not only would McCain tax health benefits on the employee side, but he would eliminate the tax benefit for employers that offer health care. Without the tax benefit, many employers would probably drop coverage. I am concerned about the signal McCain is sending to employers, and I am worried about being thrown into an open market with no protection against discrimination based on pre-existing conditions like my Hodgkin's Disease. I don't trust the open market to provide me with the same benefits that my employer does.
Barack Obama would make available a new national health care plan that anyone could join. He would also create a new Health Insurance Exchange that would give people subsidies to buy private insurance plans. Perhaps most importantly, he would prohibit insurance companies from denying people like me coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

The health care system in America is unquestionably broken; Obama is the better candidate to fix it.

MELISSA MEEHAN BALDWIN

Tampa

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