Health Care - Where do the candidates stand? Depends on where they sit. (part 2)
(No Ratings Yet)part 2 - Democrats
This one is going to be rough. Democrats flock to health care like or [Insert your own awful cliché here] white on rice. Unlike their Republican counterparts, every Democrat seems to be taking the problems of our uninsured very seriously. So seriously in fact that every single one of them has “The Solution” – thank goodness, cause I thought this was a complex problem…
To be fair to the candidates, I am not going to get their plans 100% right – I did not read everything on all of their policies. Instead, I focused on watching and analyzing their message via there YouTube video and the candidate’s homepage. Because all of these candidates are interested in solving health care, I think it is more important to examine how they are selling it to us (the American citizens) as well as their donors (the companies and organizations), stay tuned. My premise is that most of this is just well intentioned rhetoric.
| Senator Joe Biden Delaware | |
|---|---|
| Highlighting his own experience with the healthcare industry, Joe Biden maintains that health care is necessity and without health insurance, you can lose everything (very personal and compelling). He says that of the 47 million people without health care 70% have jobs and work like the devil and cannot afford health insurance (that’s me!). He wants to take John Kerry’s plan for insuring everyone under the age of 18. Also, take care of unemployed. He said he would pay for it by repealing the tax cuts. (Read his plan called “Four Practical Steps Toward Health Care For All”) | |
| Senator Hillary Clinton NY | ||
|---|---|---|
| she maintains that health care costs grow twice as fast as wage. She would focus on healthcare for children (9 million are uninsured). She would close the pre-existing conditions loophole, which she considers “insurance discrimination”. She is calling for the people to “Make this the number 1 issue in the election” to send a msg to congress that “we are going to get it done this time” (For more info check out her policy “Providing Affordable and Accessible Health Care”) |
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| Senator Chris Dodd CT | |
|---|---|
| Chris Dodd says that businesses are interested in moving healthcare costs out of their shops to somewhere else. Dodd wants a universal Opt in HMO. (His plan is called “Affordable health care for all Americans”.) Check out the Dodd Healthcare comparison matrix. | |
| Former Senator John Edwards North Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|
| John Edwards, YouTube debate clip “wants to stand up to the drug and insurance companies”. On his webpage he lists “requiring all American residents to get insurance”(so he can sue them all?) As the ultimate goal. (Read about his Health Care policy called “the Edwards plan”) | ||
| Former Senator Mike Gravel Alaska | |
|---|---|
| Most Democratic plans are to charge business for more, “the Massachusetts plan” he calls it is the wrong way. He wants a voucher system paid for by a retail tax system. Computerize the system (essentially utilizing the VA system) make it more efficient (30%) than the paper system. Stay away form socking it the business, and let them focus on competing in global market. (His plan calls for Universal Healthcare Vouchers” |
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| Congressmen Denis Kucinich Ohio 10th | |
|---|---|
| He advocates for HR 676 aka “the Michael Moore plan”. He maintains that health care is a basic right in a democratic society, not a privilege. He wants to “remove the profit incentive” from the industry – he must hate innovation. (Plan for “A Healthy Nation”) |
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| Senator Barack Obama Illinois | |
|---|---|
| “The very first promise I made on this campaign was that as President I would sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office.” – waste and inefficiency must be combated. You may as well call it the uber-plan. As I read more into his health care policy I realized that not only is it the most detailed of any presidential candidate, but it is also the most ambitious. Barack Obama’s health care policy is the “chicken in every pot” promise of the 21st century, then again it may just highlight his naivety. (Barack Obama’s Plan for a Healthy America) | |
| Bill Richardson | |
|---|---|
| Bill Richardson – wants to cover every person in the United States, including undocumented workers/illegal immigrants. He wants to streamline healthcare administration and focus on prevention. He thinks this will result in a 110 billion dollar savings, the revenue will be used for “health care for all.” (Bill Richardson’s Plan for “Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans”). | |
If you have made it this far congratulations are in order, to be frank many of these candidates’ health care policies were not worth the time to research. They all want expanded health care rights, but I was disappointed because too few talked about how we were going to pay for it. One of the most innovative ways of paying for healthcare came from Mike Gravel. He wants to institute a national sales tax (other methods included repealing tax cuts (Biden) or making the employer pay “their fair share”).
Breaking away from the norm – my mother is actually a nurse-midwife, so the issue of health care is something that I have grown up around. When democratic candidates discuss this issue, I think they rarely get it right. They often talk of the evil agencies, whether it is the insurance companies, drug companies or hospital administration companies. Every time John Edwards mentions the evils of insurance companies, I cannot help but cringe; he made his millions off suing them – what are his real intentions? How many doctors did he run out of business? When Richardson, Gravel talk about creating a national electronic health care records system, how much is that going to cost? What is to stop the government from using that information for “law enforcement” and encroaching on my civil rights? If the government provides me with health care, what rights does that give them over my body and information? Can they pass a law requiring me to run 5 miles a day – that would after all cut costs?
I am not an ideologue, or at least not about this issue. Instead, I am looking for something pragmatic. How do we transition from what we have now into a system that allows Americans to build wealth without chronic disease destroying it? How do we build a system that allows American pharmaceutical companies to continue to lead the world in innovation? How do continue to encourage Doctors and Researchers from all over the world to come here to advance the world’s knowledge of medicine? How do we help the less fortunate?
I walk away having read through all of the presidential candidates platforms certain that none of them have “The Solution”.
on September 2nd, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I think the real question here is: who should answer all of these (your) important questions?
Most mainstream politicians, as you say, assert they have “The Solution,” especially when trying to appeal to the left.
Personally, I think these sorts of questions are intended for those most closely involved with the situation: the individual, and to a lesser extent the various caregivers involved.
Therefore, I tend to prefer an approach that gives me the freedom to choose the best approach to maintaining a healthy disposition.