McCain Grapples With Gaps in Health Plan

April 28, 2008 — -- Sen. John McCain is proposing to create a subsidized high-risk insurance pool for Americans with pre-existing conditions as part of his plan to overhaul the nation's health-care system.

"We're not leaving anybody behind," the Arizona Republican recently told ABC News' "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

"We will, as part of our plan, have a special Medicaid trust fund set up to help care for those people who have pre-existing conditions," he said.

As the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee prepares to flesh out his health policies during a Tuesday speech in Tampa, Fla., his critics charge that pre-existing conditions are his Achilles' heel.

Unlike plans offered by Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, McCain would not require insurance companies to cover individuals without regards to pre-existing conditions.

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, has personalized her criticism by invoking her own battle with breast cancer as well as McCain's history of skin cancer.

"John McCain and I have something in common," Elizabeth Edwards recently told National Public Radio, "neither one of us would be covered by his health-care policy."

In an interview with ABCNEWS.com, McCain's senior policy adviser said that the Arizona senator's critics are unduly "scaring people," and argued that they are overlooking the safeguards in his plan.

"The key is to make sure there is more money on the table in this contract between the insurer in this higher cost risk pool and the individual," said McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "Whether that money comes first to the individual and then heads over to the insurer, or if the federal government simply directly gives it to the insurer, is an administrative detail."

"The important thing," he added, "is that there is help and that the policies are widely available."