TAMPA -- Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was in Tampa Tuesday to announce plan for health care reform.
In his first visit to the Tampa Bay area since securing the GOP nomination, McCain said he wanted health insurance companies to compete for business in the open market.
McCain said he would offer families a $5,000 tax credit to help buy insurance policies.
"Millions of Americans would be making their own health care choices again," McCain told an audience of doctors, nurses and patients at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa.
"Insurance companies could no longer take your business for granted, offering narrow plans with escalating costs," McCain said. "It would help change the whole dynamic of the current system, putting individuals and families back in charge, and forcing companies to respond with better service at lower cost."
The visit was not open to the public.
The Arizona senator kicked off his "Call to Action Tour" Monday at a Miami children's hospital, where he said families should be allowed to choose their own health care, and that it should not be mandated by the government.
"As a nation, we do not uniformly deliver the best possible care," McCain said Monday. "Shortfalls in patient safety and medical errors remain dangerous reality, and too many Americans do not have health insurance."
McCain was also expected to discuss his beliefs on how medical facilities, the government and families can cut healthcare costs.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has maintained a similar stance as McCain -- more choices and lower costs.
Her opponent, Barack Obama, said he wants to make available a new national health plan similar to the plan available to Congress members.
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