McCain skeptical of health compromises

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday he won't automatically support healthcare reform compromises being hammered out in Congress.

McCain, appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," said that just because GOP Senate negotiators Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Olympia Snowe of Maine may give their stamp of approval to healthcare legislation coming out of the Senate Finance Committee, doesn't mean he's bound to support it.

"But to their great credit, (they) have been in constant communication with the rest of us," McCain said "So that's been very helpful. And so far, they have -- and I'm confident they will keep us heavily engaged as they go through this process."

McCain said the three Republican senators "face pressures from both sides, to be honest with you. Part of the problem sometimes is you get the Stockholm Syndrome … and all of a sudden you become negotiators for the sake of negotiations and a result, no matter what that result is. So far that hasn't happened."

The former GOP presidential nominee says he's irreconcilably opposed to "the so-called government option, which we believe would lead to a government takeover of the healthcare system in America."