GOP presumtivee John McCain is often attacked from the right for not being sufficiently conservative. Well, as Ronald Reagan once famously said, "There he goes again."

An item in the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog reports on a conversation with McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin who described a shift in the McCain's healthcare plan that could be seen as another drift to the left.

Essentially the plan may make higher tax credits available to those who need to buy insurance in the private market yet who are sick or have pre-existing conditions. Since they face higher premiums, the thinking goes, they need more tax credits to pay for them. 

Wrote the Journal: 

Holtz-Eakin said McCain's idea wasn't fully gelled and promised more details in months to come. But he explained the idea as making sure there would be "more money on the table" for the sick.

 

"The risk adjustment in the tax credit is meant to improve the ability of those people to purchase insurance if they're outside the employer market, and get a policy that covers the additional risks that they might have." 

Shifting tax expenditures toward the needy--without raising other taxes?

You can almost hear the grumbling coming from McCain's right flank.