For the health care cognoscenti, the most puzzling moment of last night's debate was probably when John McCain said, "The average cost of a health care insurance plan in America today is $5,800."

Where'd he get that? The figure most commonly cited—and we've heard it before on the campaign trail this year—is $12,680 for a family plan. That comes from a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That $5,000 tax credit McCain promises doesn't go quite as far in paying for a $12,000 plan.

For a minute we wondered if McCain had just misspoken, that he was confusing the cost of a family plan with the cost of covering an individual (about $4,700, according to the same Kaiser data). Or maybe he was time-traveling (family coverage cost about $5,800 a decade ago).

The folks at the Center for American Progress suggest that McCain was probably talking not about the comprehensive employer-sponsored insurance that most privately-insured people get, but premiums in the individual market. According to the insurance trade group AHIP, family policies ranged from $2,325 to $9,200, with the average around $5800 in 2006-07. Obtaining coverage in the individual market can be challenging for anyone with a pre-existing condition, or who is older. And many of these policies have less comprehensive benefits or more cost-sharing than the large-group insurance.

A lot of the rest of the debate was familiar health care ground. We checked a bunch of the fact-check sites this morning and found some ongoing skepticism about Obama's promise to cut health care costs by $2,500. Several sites also pointed out that McCain keeps charging that small businesses (and we refuse to write about the world's most famous plumber here) would face a fine under Obama if they don't cover. Small business, in contrast, would get a tax credit to help pay for workers' insurance. But it is fair to note that Obama hasn't yet clearly defined "small" business, nor has he detailed how big fines would be for larger businesses. As the Clintons learned, it may well be wiser to let those gaps be filled in by Congress...

Here are links to some of the articles and fact check sites if you want to check them out yourself:

• Factcheck.org
• New York Times The Caucus Blog
• Wall Street Journal Health Blog
• NPR
• ABC