Obama hitting McCain on health care

by John McCormick, updated

In the span of less than 24 hours, Sen. Barack Obama is seeking to prove that he is both a lover and a fighter.

The Illinois Democrat will be back on the campaign trail today in Virginia, after spending two and a half hours Friday evening at the elegant Spiaggia restaurant on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, where he celebrated his 16th wedding anniversary with his wife, Michelle.

His first course of business Saturday (after a morning workout and a flight from Chicago): turn up the heat on Sen. John McCain on the issue of health care, a topic that has not been mentioned much since the end of the primary campaign.

In a wide-ranging attack on McCain, Obama's campaign is using broadcast ads and mailings to criticize the Republican's health care proposal. The candidate himself is expected to hit the topic during a midday appearance in Newport News, Va.

Obama's campaign is focusing especially on McCain's proposal to tax as income health care benefits that people get through their employers. While such a tax would be new, McCain would offer tax credits of $2,500 ($5,000 for families) to help pay for insurance.

"He tells you that he'll give you a tax credit ... to help you pay for your insurance and health care costs," Obama is expected to say in Virginia, according to his prepared remarks. "But like those ads for prescription drugs, you have to read the fine print to learn the rest of the story."

Obama is also expected to stress that McCain's tax credit would go directly to insurance companies, not individuals.

"So when you read the fine print, it's clear that John McCain is pulling an old Washington bait and switch," Obama is expected to say. "It's a shell game. He gives you a tax credit with one hand - but raises your taxes with the other."

The Democratic and Republican nominees have proposed significantly different approaches to try to address coverage for an estimated 45 million Americans -- about 15 percent of the population -- who have no health insurance.

Obama has called for offering access to all Americans to the kind of health care members of Congress have, mandating coverage for children and lower costs through improved technology.

McCain, meanwhile, would tax employer-provided benefits, offer individuals tax credits for spending on medical care and also push for lower costs through technology.

In Thursday's vice presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden criticized McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for their health care proposal, calling it the "ultimate bridge to nowhere."

But a fact-check by the Washington Post found that Biden falsely gave the impression that most Americans would be worse off as a result of the plan.

"Barack Obama is lying about John McCain's plan to provide more Americans with more health care choices," Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant responded in a statement. "Obama's plan only offers more government, while McCain's plan offers more choices."

During the primary campaign, Sen. Hillary Clinton repeatedly criticized Obama for not going far enough to ensure universal coverage. Still, most reviews of the health care plans offered by the nominees suggest that Obama's would do more to cover the uninsured.