Change to Win, SEIU, HCAN launching major grassroots initiative to educate voters in battleground states about impact of McCain "Care" on working families, share findings of Center for American Progress Action Fund

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new series of state-level reports show presidential candidate John McCain's proposed health care plan would significantly raise taxes on tens of millions of working families while forcing millions of others to lose their employer-based health coverage. The state-by-state analyses are being released this week as part of a coordinated effort to educate voters in battleground states about the impact of a McCain health care plan on millions of families already struggling under the combined impact of the banking and health care crises by the Center for American Progress (CAP), Change to Win, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Health Care for America Now (HCAN).

"McCain is trying to de-regulate the health insurance industry, just like he pushed to de-regulate the financial services industry," said Elizabeth Edwards, Senior Fellow at CAP's Action Fund. "This plan would force millions of Americans into a de-regulated individual market stripped of consumer protections, where they would have to deal directly with the insurance companies and all their leverage."

The CAP report series, entitled "John McCain's Radical Health Care Agenda," will be unveiled at press conferences co-sponsored by Change to Win, SEIU, and HCAN this Wednesday and Thursday in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Colorado. Each report details the state-specific consequences of the McCain plan including:

• The number of individuals in each state who would lose their health benefits.

• The average tax increase for a middle-class family.

• The number of individuals currently covered by an employer-based plan who would lose their insurance due to a pre-existing condition such as cancer or diabetes.

Change to Win, SEIU Ramping Up Efforts to Educate Workers on McCain Plan

In conjunction with the reports, Change to Win and SEIU are intensifying their outreach to voters and working families. Change to Win and SEIU will be contacting workers in person, by mail, and over the phone over the next few weeks to make sure working families understand how the McCain health plan will raise their taxes and jeopardize their existing health benefits.

"America's hard-working families cannot afford the massive tax increase McCain 'Care' would bring them," said Anna Burger, Change to Win Chair and SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer. "Let's review: after eight-years of Bush's unbridled anti-worker agenda, Senator McCain wants to jeopardize what's left of the employer-based health benefits of millions of hard-working Americans. We're not going to let that happen. Change to Win, SEIU and the Center for American Progress are going to make sure workers know what will happen to their health benefits if McCain wins this election."

Nationally, Change to Win has been leading a broad-based effort to keep working families informed about each presidential candidate's health care plan, through direct mail to 450,000 union members in 14 battleground states; telephone calls to 180,000 workers in 14 states; and door-to-door canvassing at the homes of union members across the country.

Separately, SEIU members have knocked on nearly 340,000 doors, made nearly 65,000 phone calls, and registered more than 45,000 new voters.

State Reports Bolster EPI Findings, Offer Deeper Analysis Following National Study

The CAP reports bolster similar findings on the impact of the McCain health care plan recently released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that projected 19 million individuals could lose their coverage. The state-level report series comes on the heels of a CAP study released [WHEN] showing nationally, Senator McCain's plan would:

• Threaten the coverage of more than 160 million people in the United States who receive health benefits through work. McCain's plan eliminates the employer health care tax benefits that enable many businesses, especially small businesses, to provide group insurance to their employees.

• Put at special risk coverage for the 56 million non-elderly people across the country struggling with diseases like cancer and diabetes who are now covered through their jobs. Under McCain's plan, insurance companies would be free to "cherry pick" only those individuals for coverage who do not have costly health conditions and avoid state regulations that keep health care accessible and affordable.

• Raise taxes on the health insurance benefits paid by millions of American families. A typical family could pay over $1,100 more in taxes by 2013 if McCain imposes both income and payroll taxes on their health coverage.