John McCain should be taken at his word. He just gave a major speech in which he unveiled his "new" idea for how to fix health care in America (which is actually just recycled Bush policy). To prove he knows what he is talking about, I challenge him to be the first to voluntarily do what he is asking all Americans to do: give up his employer-based health care, and purchase his own health insurance on the open market as a private American citizen.

You heard that right -- the only idea Republicans have for our broken health care system is to take away the only thing workers have relied upon for decades -- employer-based health insurance -- and replace it with a tax credit. McCain doesn't specify who would get this tax credit or how exactly it'll be paid for, but no matter. Borrow-and-spend Republicans can just put it all on the Bank of China credit card we've been running our government on for years, I guess.

You see, according to Republican dogma, government is evil. Everything it touches is evil. It should be avoided at all costs. John McCain has been making hay on the campaign trail with this mantra as it relates to health care. Here he is explaining the scary, scary plan those Democrats have:

"The 'solution,' my friends, isn't a one-size-fits-all-big government takeover of health care. It resides where every important social advance has always resided -- with the American people themselves, with well informed American families, making practical decisions to address their imperatives for better health and more secure prosperity."

Even if he were right about Clinton or Obama advocating such a thing (fact check: he's not, they aren't), John McCain is still a flaming hypocrite. Because he's a veteran, he assumably is still eligible for health care from the Veterans Administration. On top of that, he gets gold-plated health care as a Senator. And the last time I checked, both the Senate and the V.A. are part of the United States government. Which means our tax dollars are paying for John McCain's health care. Not indirectly, either. He gets his health care at the expense of every single taxpayer. Hence the "flaming hypocrite" label.

Of course, the mainstream media is calling him on this blatant contradiction. (Pause for laughter....) OK, of course they aren't. Here is the question some bright young reporter should ask McCain at the next available opportunity:

"Since you have denounced big-government health care and your new plan would get rid of employer-based health care, when will you be personally refusing all V.A. health care benefits and your Senate health insurance, and instead doing what you want every American to do -- buying your health insurance on the open market? Tomorrow? Next week, maybe?"

Any bright young enterprising reporters out there with access to McCain, please feel free to use that question without attribution. I don't want credit, I just want to see McCain try to answer it.

Because I want Mister John McCain to put his money where his mouth is. And I'm not being disrespectful -- I want Mister McCain, average citizen, to do so -- not Retired Officer McCain, or Senator McCain.

He certainly has the money to do so. Well, OK, his wife has the money, but (once again) the media's not interested in that detail, so we'll skip over it. The point is, McCain has access to money to buy health insurance, without some "big government" (sorry, couldn't resist) $5,000 tax credit to help him out.

But he may find it harder than just writing a check. Since he won't be getting insurance through his employer anymore, he will have to buy the most expensive health insurance that exists -- "individual" health insurance, instead of "group" health insurance. And his woes don't stop there. Because he's over 70, the price is sure to be even higher.

But the real stumbling block he's going to hit is the fact that he has at least one recent "pre-existing condition" -- skin cancer. As well as lingering medical problems from being a prisoner of war. Which means that even though he's got the money, he may not be able to purchase health insurance at any price.

Now, I don't have John McCain's medical records in front of me or anything, so I don't know that he would be denied coverage -- but it is a frightening possibility for millions of Americans, many of whom simply do not have access to enough money to pay exorbitant prices even if they aren't denied coverage.

And John McCain's health care plan wouldn't change that. Unlike Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who would make it illegal for the health insurance companies to deny coverage in such a fashion.

So, John McCain, I challenge you to lead the way down the path you want the rest of us to follow. I challenge you to immediately opt out of any and all health insurance you now have which is paid for by "big government." I challenge you to go out on the open health care market and buy your own insurance. And no fair cheating -- you can't get an aide to make the phone calls for you. I want you, John McCain, to sift through websites and call insurance companies on your own time. Since that is exactly what you are asking everyone else to do, it's only fair that you be the first to do so to prove how easy and affordable your new plan will be for everyone.

Because maybe then you will understand what some Americans have to go through to get health insurance, and why so many don't have it. At the very least, maybe then you'll understand what a monumentally stupid idea you have just put forth.

Come to think of it, we could probably solve all our health care problems in a single year by simply denying all members of Congress access to any group health care plans, forcing them all to purchase it on their own. Because then there would be a real incentive to quickly change some laws for the benefit of all. And, my friends, I look for John McCain to lead the way in this initiative, since that's what he wants the rest of us to do.

Because, otherwise, he's just a flaming hypocrite.

Cross-posted at The Huffington Post

-- Chris Weigant