As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’m really not a fan of John McCain. Still, I have to say, he’s got the best health care plan of any of the Presidential candidates that’re still in the race.

McCain’s prescription would seek to lure workers away from their company health plans with a $5,000 family tax credit and a promise that, left to their own devices, they would be able to find cheaper insurance that is more tailored to their health-care needs and not tied to a particular job.

Under McCain’s plan, $3.6 trillion worth of tax breaks over a decade that would have gone to businesses for coverage of their employees would be redirected to individuals, regardless of whether they are covered by a company plan.

“Insurance companies could no longer take your business for granted, offering narrow plans with escalating costs,” McCain said. “It would help change the whole dynamic of the current system, putting individuals and families back in charge, and forcing companies to respond with better service at lower cost.”

I’m not a huge fan of the idea of government subsidizing health care in general, but this is the best plan I’ve heard so far, in no small part because it at least minimizes the direct involvement.

• People whose employers don’t currently offer insurance would be able to afford to get it on their own
• It doesn’t hurt the currently insured
• Currently insured individuals would be able to get plans that better suit their needs

Individuals who can’t afford insurance now would be able to do so under McCain’s plan, because the tax credit would take care of the cost. Those who don’t earn enough to pay $5,000 in taxes would get a refund check (I assume) to cover the difference.

Right now, my pay stub shows that I pay about $100 per month on health insurance. A more-or-less equivalent plan purchased on my own would cost me about $230 a month (based on a couple of quotes I got from the web). That’s a difference of $1,560 per year. Given that my $100 is currently tax free, we’ll bump that up to $1,600 a year. McCain’s plan would provide a $5,000 tax credit, which puts me $3,400 to the good. If I saved or invested all of that money, it’d be a good jump on meeting my health plan’s deductible or any other costs that may come up in an emergency. Even if I just had to abandon that $3,400 (that is, if the tax credit only covered the cost of my plan and no more), I’m still breaking even with McCain’s plan. This is much better than any single-payer system, where I am almost guaranteed to be hit with higher taxes that would cost me more than my current plan does.

McCain says that putting individuals and families in charge of their own insurance would force insurance companies to respond with better service at lower cost, and that’s likely true. But a plan that allows me to choose between the plans currently available to individuals without additional cost would be more than welcome. The company I work for is a national company, and while their current health care plan is accepted pretty widely in this area, that hasn’t always been the case. At one point early in my tenure here, the company had a plan that many employees seemed to really like, but there were next-to-no participating doctors in this area at all. The company had chosen the plan because it was the best benefit for the largest number of its employees, but because all employees are different, it completely failed some of us. Giving individuals the power to purchase their own plans (without taking a severe hit in the wallet) is a great idea.

Unfortunately, it seems as though we are pretty much stuck with the idea of government-sponsored health care coverage. If that is the case, I think this plan or one like it may be the best of a whole spectrum of horrible choices.