John McCain, Joe Biden, hair plugs, bank rules and gold-plated health insurance plans

During a discussion of health insurance in Tuesday night's presidential debate, Sen. John McCain made a joke -- or at least it seemed like a joke -- about hair plugs.

Here is what he said:

And if you do the math, those people who have employer-based health benefits -- if you put the tax on it, and you have what's left over, and you add $5,000 that you're going to get as a refundable tax credit, do the math.

"Ninety-five percent of the American people will have increased funds to go out and buy the insurance of their choice and to shop around and to get -- all those people will be covered, except for those who have these gold-plated Cadillac kinds of policies -- you know, like hair transplants. I might need one of those myself.

Was this a not-so-subtle reminder that a certain member of the rival presidential ticket is known to have engaged in follicular enhancement?

Is McCain suggesting that the healthcare plan enjoyed by the United States senators includes payments for cosmetic enhancements such as hair transplants?

Generally speaking, hair transplants are considered elective surgery, and are not covered by insurance except in cases of burns or injury.

Incidentally, Biden's name did not come up another time, in a conversation about federal regulation, when Obama mentioned his running mate's home state in a not altogether flattering way:

Now, the final point I'll make on this whole issue of government intrusion and mandates -- it is absolutely true that I think it is important for government to crack down on insurance companies that are cheating their customers, that don't give you the fine print, so you end up thinking that you're paying for something and, when you finally get sick and you need it, you're not getting it.

And the reason that it's a problem to go shopping state by state, you know what insurance companies will do? They will find a state -- maybe Arizona, maybe another state -- where there are no requirements for you to get cancer screenings, where there are no requirements for you to have to get pre-existing conditions, and they will all set up shop there.

That's how, in banking, it works. Everybody goes to Delaware, because they've got very -- pretty loose laws when it comes to things like credit cards.

Were both men obliquely picking on Biden? If so, how come no one picked on McCain's running mate? She wasn't mentioned or alluded to by either of the candidates.

-- Robin Abcarian

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Comments

[Jim Barning]

Uh, both of these supposed references to Biden are pretty big stretches!

Insinuating that McCain intentionally remarked about hair plugs as a reference to Biden would require that he planned it. But, then I have to wonder, what in the world would that gain McCain? Especially considering that as soon as he said it, I (along with probably everybody else watching the debate) glanced at his head and noticed he had lost a lot of hair. If that was part of a strategy, I think it's time for another staff shakeup.

Obama's remark about Delaware makes sense - Delaware is the most obvious example of a certain industry flocking to a particular American state. Name some others - not industries flocking to a particular city, but to a particular state. He could have said gambling or brothels and Nevada, but that would have been quite an odd comparison.

[Patrick]

McCain's comment about hair transplants in last night's debate struck me as another example of how mean this guy is under the surface. He just more and more comes across as a bitter old man.

[Paul Stewart]

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Were both men obliquely picking on Biden? If so, how come no one picked on McCain's running mate? She wasn't mentioned or alluded to by either of the candidates.
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Indeed, McCain was picking on Biden. Obama was picking on what needed picking on, the lax rules in Delaware.

As far as Palin, she is not on Obama's radar. She is not worthy of his time and comment. He does not want to elevate her by acknowledging her existence. McCain must be dying from embarrassment. He has relegated her to the base. Even then, he is with her most of the time. He does not trust her at all. And he has good reason not to.

[Garry O'Brien]

When mc Cain said that we should support freedom fighters in Afganistan like his hero Raygun did. Does he know that Osama Bainlaudin was one of those people? Does Mc Cain think that the Teleban is something that we need to foster more ?

[Tom J]

Actually LOTS businesses incorporate in Delaware, not just banking ones. Talk to any business law professor at U of C or Northwestern and ask them why..

[Orn R. Critter]

Well, the loose laws in Delaware re credit cards would be the fault of the Delaware state legislature and its governor, not the fault of a U.S. Senator. Biden could do no more about it than he could about the Delaware tax system.