The Wonk Room

Holtz-Eakin’s No-Good Very Bad Day

Pat Garofalo points out that after numerous denials, McCain’s senior policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin finally admitted that temporarily cutting the capital gains tax would overwhelmingly benefit millionaires. But Holz-Eakin’s truth-telling didn’t end there. During the segment on health care, McCain’s aide conceded that McCain’s health care tax credit wouldn’t cover the entire cost of a comprehensive health plan and would only allow some Americans to buy insurance in the individual market:

Now, the McCain plan does in fact have a $5000 credit…It doesn’t pay for the full cost of insurance. It provides a subsidy to the private entity — sector. And while it will allow some people to buy insurance, the average policy nationwide for a family plan in the individual market is something like $5100.

Watch it:

The Wonk Room has long argued that McCain’s plan would give you a $5,000 credit to buy a $12,680 plan and force you to find a sub prime health care plan with fewer benefits and higher costs. Yesterday, the McCain campaign agreed!

UPDATE: More on the campaign’s confused health care rhetoric here.