Health Care for America Now (HCAN) - the unprecedented coalition of large labor groups, community-based organizations, women's groups, doctors, nurses, small businesses, think tanks, and leading netroots activists - released the following statement today in response to Senator McCain's repeated false claims that Senator Obama's health care plan will "force small businesses to cut jobs and reduce wages and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor":

"Senator Obama's heath care plan offers the American people and American business a choice. His plan allows individuals to stay with the private insurance they have now, choose a new health care plan similar to the one Congress has, or opt into a new public plan so we are no longer left at the mercy of the private insurance industry. His plan includes lowering health care costs for small business and allowing employers to offer health insurance by paying for it as a percentage of their payroll rather than continue to feed into the current system where premiums are completely disconnected from what a business can afford.

Too many Americans already know the frustration of having a bureaucrat stand between them and their doctor because that is exactly how the unregulated private insurance market operates now. McCain's health care plan, which proposes taxing your health care benefits at work and eliminating what little regulation already exists by allowing people to purchase across state lines, will raise costs and lower consumer protections.

Health Care for America Now asks Senator McCain to level with the American people and stop lying about Obama's health care proposal." - Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now