Finally!  I heard a report on NPR this morning and the Obama website confirms that the Democratic presidential campaign is going to ramp up efforts to discuss health care this week.  Over the next week Sen. Obama will hold over two dozen events in nine battleground states with health care as a major point of emphasis.  Above is a new Obama commercial highlighting the candidates differences on the subject.  If you’re looking to get into this spirit and need some lines to use around the water cooler, try these on for size:

• McCain will give you a $5,000 tax break on your health insurance, but only after he has created a brand spanking new tax on the employer’s contribution to your premiums. 
• Obama will go after the Wal-Marts of the world that don’t offer health care insurance by adding a payroll tax for these large employers. Small businesses will get a tax credit to encourage them to offer insurance for employees.
• McCain likes to throw around terms like “government run health care,” or “socialized medicine,” or “a government takeover,” but apparently doesn’t actually understand what these mean.  Obama has never proposed a plan for a single payer health care system–this, my friends, is socialized government run health care.
• Obama does want to create a National Health Insurance Exchange which offers an array of private insurance options at an affordable rate for those who uninsured through employment.  (NB: this and his payroll tax for Wal-Mart is quite a bit like my plan under King for a Day, but more moderate.)
• Obama wants to prevent insurance companies from cherry picking the healthy and denying those with preexisting conditions.  It’s a good thing John McCain is of Medicare age, he couldn’t get health insurance under his plan.

Hope this helps.  If you have any questions this week in debating health care with co-workers, post a comment at “The Country Doc Report” and I’ll give you some more ammo to take back to the water cooler.  Remember, watch out for that socialized medicine line, they try it every time.

The Country Doc

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