McCain seeks tax credit to help buy health insurance

[sweeps]

Republican John McCain wants to change how people get their health insurance, shifting away from job-based coverage to an open market where people can choose from competing policies.

McCain said Tuesday he would offer families a $5,000 tax credit to help buy insurance policies. Everyone would get the credit, whether he or she keeps a policy through an employer or shops for a new one.

"You simply choose the insurance provider that suits you best," McCain said in a speech Tuesday at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa.

Article

[cptacek]

I think this line in the article is important:

The goal is to move the health care industry away from job-based coverage toward competition among health insurance companies on the open market.

I know lots of people who would quit their jobs and try to start their own business if they could get cheap health insurance. People tell me to start my own consultant business, but I have the health insurance, so I can't do that.