Split on health care

PUBLISHED by The Daily Free Press

Health care policy is no less controversial at Boston University than throughout the rest of the nation, and students are divided on which candidate offers the better plan.

In a survey of 105 randomly selected BU students, 57 students said they supported Obama’s health care plan, 40 students said they supported McCain’s plan, five students did not support either plan and three supported parts of both plans.



In another survey of an American government lecture yielding 56 responses, 38 students said they supported Obama’s health care plan, 14 said they supported McCain’s, three did not answer and one did not support either plan.

Health care is the policy with the biggest difference between candidates, strategy and policy professor in the School of Management Jim Post said. More than 40 million Americans are uninsured, and that number is likely to rise as unemployment worsens, he said.

Similar to the candidates’ approaches for addressing the economic crisis, Obama’s health care plan is “comprehensive” and focuses on problems with the system while McCain’s plan takes a “narrower” view, Post said.

“McCain has this idea that a tax credit could be a good device for the freedom to choose health coverage and also money to do it,” Post said. “McCain cannot guarantee $5,000 will be enough for people to buy the coverage they need. The fear is that insurance companies will simply raise prices.”

But the effectiveness of either policy cannot be truly evaluated until they are actually implemented. Obama’s plan has a greater chance of working, but funding is still a question, Post said.

“The difference is that these two candidates have a fundamentally different view about the role of government in modern society,” he said.

“McCain’s view is generally a preference for a smaller government role –– use it when you absolutely have to. Obama’s philosophy is that government is integral to providing a social and economic well-being . . . there’s always a job for government.”

Ian Clark, a College of General Studies sophomore, said he chose Obama’s plan over McCain’s because Obama plans to offer tax credits for health care to small businesses, relieving strain on employers who are having to deal with increasing the minimum wage.

“A tax credit would create an incentive to offer better health care instead of cutting corners to try to stay above bankruptcy,” Clark, who is a politics student, said.

Clark said McCain’s plan to give $5,000 tax credits for health care to families and individuals makes less sense because health care plans usually cost four times that amount.

Eric Leist, a College of Communication sophomore, supports McCain’s plan because it gives people more power.

"I believe that people should have a choice as to what health care plan they get, and it shouldn’t be a mandated thing the way Obama wants it to be,” Leist said. “I don’t know if it would work or not, but in theory, [McCain’s] idea to give everyone a credit toward a health care plan … is a better idea than Obama’s."

Meaghen Hamill, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said she thinks Obama’s plan is better because it puts responsibility on businesses.

“Who knows what people would do with [McCain’s tax credit] money?” Hamill, who is also a government student, said.