Credits won't secure access to treatment

October 12, 2008

Sen. John McCain's proposed $5,000 tax credit for people to buy health insurance is a futile gesture on two counts ("Gloves stay on," Oct. 8).

For one thing, $5,000 would not buy decent family coverage. For another, tax credits only help people who have money to spend in the first place and owe income taxes at least as great as the credit.

The trouble with our present economy is that too many people do not make enough money to do so.

So the people whose health care is most precarious would not benefit greatly from this gesture and would still be shivering on the brink of disaster.

Katharine W. RylaarsdamBaltimore

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