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In a previous post on the presidential candidates' health insurance reform plans, we wrote Republican candidate John McCain would only cover 2 million new Americans under his proposal.Those numbers were from a report conducted by the liberal-leaning Commonwealth Fund.

Apparently, the Lewin Group is competing with this report. We are unsure of their political biases. This report showed that McCain's plan would cut the uninsured numbers down by 21 million by 2019. The Los Angeles Times and Associated Press report this.

McCain's plan would hit the 21 million figure by the fact of 24 million people using the tax credit McCain wants the government to provide. This tax credit is intended to help American's buy their own individual health plans on the private market. It is thought that about 16 million workers will lose their group health insurance from their employers. the report was under the impression that new companies would step up and offer health insurance for the first time, offsetting at least some of the 16 million who might lose their coverage.

The study, though, was met with some skepticism. The biggest argument against the Lewin Group's report is that it doesn't account for people being denied coverage in the private market because of pre-existing health conditions. But the Lewin Group acknowledged that is accounted for in their report."The people who are sick are going to have a lot of trouble affording coverage, even with the credit," said Lewin Group Vice President, John Sheils.

Sheils said that roughly half of those who are uninsured today are Americans between the ages of 19 to 34. That's the group where the McCain plan will make up the biggest number from those who lost employer coverage, argued Sheils. It's an interesting report, but our first reaction is that their numbers might be inflated.