A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down but campaign promises made by politicians are best taken with a grain of salt. That includes some of the latest political rhetoric regarding the future of the nation’s healthcare industry.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has blasted opponent John McCain’s proposed medical plan of late by saying it will cut $882 billion in Medicare services, leaving the nation’s senior citizens facing uncertainty, higher prices, fewer services and facilities, and diminished quality of care. The Obama campaign bases this outcome on an October 6 story in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in which Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s economic adviser, was quoted.

The reality, however, is that the WSJ article did not actually say services would be cut. It did, however, say that programs would be improved and fraud eliminated but the source of funding to do so was never identified.

In a follow-up telephone interview, Holtz-Eakin said any additional monies needed to fund McCain’s medical plan would be generated by savings accrued when fraudulent and abusive practices within the Medicare program are identified and eliminated. Further savings are expected to be realized by improved treatment for chronic diseases, quicker availability of generic drugs, and expanded use of information technologies designed for the medical profession. The Obama medical plan also calls for improvements in the way chronic diseases are treated and expanded use of information technologies.

One issue that perhaps neither side is expressing strongly enough is that the medical system as we know it today cannot be corrected in short order. Both the McCain and the Obama plans involve a ten-year time span although neither campaign has issued a per-year cost analysis. All figures, including the $882 billion, cover the entire ten years of the respective plans although quoting one giant, all-inclusive, number makes flashier headlines.

Source: Newsweek