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 New Report Shows McCain Plan Would Take Away Health Benefits of 100,000 in New HampshireFor Immediate Release Contact: NEW REPORT SHOWS MCCAIN PLAN WOULD TAKE AWAY HEALTH BENEFITS OF 100,000 IN NEW HAMPSHIRE Under Proposed Plan, Millions of Middle Class Families in New Hampshire Would Also Face Tax Increase CONCORD – A new report released today by the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) shows that Senator John McCain’s proposed health care plan would threaten the employer-based health benefits of 840,000 people in New Hampshire and that as many as 100,000 people in the state could lose their health coverage. These findings, confirmed by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), were compounded by the fact that the McCain health care plan would amount to a tax increase for middle class families in New Hampshire, with the average family paying almost $700 more in taxes by 2013. The CAPAF study is being released this week as part of a coordinated effort by Change to Win, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Granite State Progress, and New Hampshire for Health Care to educate voters in New Hampshire about the impact of the McCain health care plan on millions of families already struggling under the combined impact of the banking and health care crises. “McCain’s health care plan would de-regulate the health insurance industry, just like previous legislation he supported de-regulated the financial services industry,” said Ellen-Marie Whelan, Senior Health Policy Analyst at CAPAF. “This plan would force families in New Hampshire into a de-regulated individual market stripped of consumer protections, where they would be at the mercy of the insurance companies and all their leverage.” In New Hampshire, Sen. McCain’s plan would:• Threaten the coverage of 840,000 people in New Hampshire who receive health benefits through work. The Economic Policy Institute projects 100,000 could lose their coverage. McCain’s plan eliminates the employer health care tax benefits that enable many businesses, especially small businesses, to provide group insurance to their employees. In conjunction with the reports, Change to Win and SEIU are intensifying their outreach to voters and working families across the state of New Hampshire. Change to Win and SEIU will be contacting workers in person, by mail, and over the phone over the next few weeks to make sure working families understand how the McCain health plan will raise their taxes and jeopardize their existing health benefits. “New Hampshire’s hard-working families cannot afford the massive tax increase the McCain health care plan would bring them,” said John Thyng, State Director of NH for Health Care. “Let’s review: after eight-years of Bush’s unbridled anti-worker agenda, Senator McCain’s plan would jeopardize what’s left of the employer-based health benefits of millions of hard-working Americans. We’re not going to let that happen. Organizations like Change to Win, SEIU, New Hampshire for Health Care, and Granite State Progress are going to make sure workers know how they will be affected if the McCain health care plan becomes law.” Nationally, Change to Win has been leading a broad-based effort to keep working families informed about the different health care proposals through direct mail to 450,000 union members in 14 battleground states; telephone calls to 180,000 workers in 14 states; and door-to-door canvassing at the homes of union members across the country. Separately, SEIU members have knocked on nearly 690,000 doors, made nearly 217,000 phone calls, and registered more than 70,000 new voters. State Rep. John DeJoie, who sits on the state’s Finance Committee said, “Senator McCain’s health care plan will force almost a million people in New Hampshire out of employer-based health insurance and leave them alone to fend for themselves in the unregulated, bureaucratic private insurance market. That’s not a plan that works for people. That’s a plan that pads insurance companies’ pockets.” ### About Change to Win: ABOUT SEIU: ABOUT New Hampshire for Health Care: ABOUT Granite State Progress: Back to Granite State Progress  |