Q&A: John McCain on White House, Iraq

By Linda Douglass

updated 9:56 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2007

National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with Sen. John McCain for the third edition of "National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation.

Douglass: So, Senator John McCain, welcome to the program, thank you so much for joining us and first I want to ask you about the health care plan that you have rolled out this week, a very interesting plan not like the plans that we've heard from either Republicans or Democrats, is it your view that controlling cost, the cost of health care, is more important than providing access to the uninsured?

McCain: Well, Linda, I think we know what the problem is, we have the best health care in the world, in America the problem is the cost dramatically escalates, so that nobody can afford it. There was a front page story in USA Today about three days ago that said that the inflation of Medicaid was over ten percent — yet that's not sustainable, plus Medicare and Medicaid are going broke, so we have to take steps in order to allow people to get access and availability to health care but we have to keep the costs of health care down. By a number of innovative steps — that's for our proposal.

Douglass: How would you expand, though, coverage of the uninsured, which does many say drive up the cost for all of us because those are people who eventually wind up in the emergency room? How would this plan cover the uninsured?

McCain: Well one, is we give every American a $2,500 tax credit, $5,000 per family. We would allow these so called walk-in clinics, where you call your doctor, and he can't see you for a week, you can just go to one of these clinics and get low cost care. If people have $2500 or $5000 with which to purchase a health insurance policy we will allow them to shop all over America and not just within the state in which they reside — So we will have medical malpractice reform and transparency. for those people. I think you're referring to have chronic illnesses that cost so much then we're going to have to set up some kind of a fund — so that we can give these people sufficient amount of money in order to purchase health insurance policy. So it's a lot of steps that need to be taken, but it really is aimed at reducing the cost of health care.

Douglass: Well let's talk a little bit about the campaign in general. You were on the stage last night, earlier this week with your fellow Republicans. There was a lot of back and forth of course as we know between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani over a couple of things. First of all, which one of them has cut more taxes and more spending. Which one of them would you say has cut more taxes and spending?

McCain: Neither one, in fact, they've both, if you want to call them fees, or you want to call them a banana, the fact is a tax increase. All of them have increased taxes, increased quote fees or whatever it is, their budgets grew and fees or taxes on both the people of Massachusetts and people of New York City increased. I mean it's just, as Ronald Reagan used to say, facts are stubborn things.

Douglass: So you're saying that they are both tax raisers not tax cutters.

McCain: Oh sure, I mean, that's the record, the people that they represented experienced an increase in their payments to their government.

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