The McCain plan
McCain's plan would dramatically change how many Americans get health insurance. He proposes ending tax breaks on employer-provided benefits and instead giving a tax credit - $5,000 per family or $2,500 per individual - to people to buy their own coverage.
Obama has slammed the plan, saying during the debate that the new tax credit counted for little since employer benefits would be taxed.
"So what one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away," Obama said.
Experts said that the $5,000 may not cover the cost of a comprehensive plan. And they argue that the proposal would reduce the incentive for employers to offer health insurance, pushing many people into the private sector for benefits.
"If you take the tax subsidy off, a lot of employers are going to decide it's not in their best interest to provide benefits," said Thomas Buchmueller, a health economist at the University of Michigan, who co-authored an analysis of McCain's plan for the journal Health Affairs.
McCain argues that his free market approach will create more competition among insurers and give people more options. But experts said that older people and those with pre-existing conditions could have difficulty getting coverage.
"We estimate that it will be more or less a wash in how many people end up being uninsured," said Buchmueller.
Asked about the criticism that McCain would not have much impact on the number of people with insurance, McCain spokesman Peter Feldman pointed to a recent study by the Minnesota-based HSI Network LLC, which said that McCain's plan would cover half of the currently uninsured.
