Oval Office: One Week Away

It is one week until Americans everywhere cast their vote for the future of our nation and the future of its health care system. This is an historic year and one in which the choices we make are of incredible importance.

With that in mind, I'd like to point you towards a piece from USA Today that is great for an overview of the candidates' plans. Composed by the publication's editors, it endorses a strongly bipartisan approach similar to the one that Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed.

Nonetheless, it does help dispel some of the fog of rhetoric that has surrounded the claims on both sides since the election cycle began. Citing highly pertinent, impartial sources like The Annenberg FactCheck and the Kaiser Family Foundation, and deconstructing the media/advertising spin, it does a pretty concise job of laying everything out for the thoughtful voter.

Ultimately, the best health care plan might combine elements of both McCain's market-based reforms with mandates to make sure that everyone has access to coverage. Given how contentious the campaign has been, that might seem far-fetched. But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has a plan to do just that.

Even if Democrats pad their congressional majorities on Nov. 4, many of the tough issues that this nation faces won't be solved without bipartisanship. Health care reform is no exception.

Certainly well worth examining. Follow the Fact Check link when you read it.

SOURCE: "Health care Rx: Mix up McCain's and Obama's plans" 10/27/08
photo courtesy of Jeff Milner, used under its Creative Commons license

The Return of Elizabeth Edwards: Health Care Sytem Immoral

Elizabeth Edwards has returned to the public health care reform discussion for the first time since last August when news of her husband's affair hit the media. She spoke in Philadelphia, PA, on the night of the 16th.

Melissa Dribben of The Philadelphia Equirer reports:

Speaking knowledgeably and with dollops of relaxed good humor, Edwards told the audience of 200 people at the National Constitution Center that the current health-care system is immoral and "fails everyone except the extremely wealthy."

Seated onstage in a plush chair, the 57-year-old wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards used her experience as a patient with incurable breast cancer to illustrate lapses in the current system. But she was careful to say that the responsibility lies both with individuals, who need to take good preventive care, and insurance companies, which should be concerned with long-term health instead of short-term savings.

As a sufferer of incurable breast cancer, Mrs. Edwards has a voice that commands attention in matters of health care reform. Her direct experience with the system provides a veracity that is seen as lacking on the part of many in politics today. Another factor is that she does not see either of the current candidate's plans for health care reform to be ideal, although she has no problem in stating which one is her preference.

Except for one subtle remark about the "Republican vice presidential candidate's" opposition to stem cell research, Edwards maintained a relatively neutral political stance. Neither presidential candidate is proposing the kind of universal and comprehensive coverage that Americans deserve, she said. But of the two, Edwards said, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's plan, which would mandate coverage for children, will move the nation more in the right direction.

In addition to the statements above, she once more reiterated her opinions about John McCain's personal health issues and their impact upon his perspective in this matter. Sen. McCain's multiple melanomas have been treated under his military health plan, which provides extensive coverage even though most private insurance plans in the U.S. would deny coverage on these pre-existing conditions.

The debate continues to heat up, and one must wonder if the media eye will pay more attention to Mrs. Edwards' health care activism or the peccadilloes of her husband. John Edwards has stated that he will stay out of the public eye until after November 4 in order to keep from clouding the issues or distracting from the focus of the Democratic Campaign.

SOURCE: "Elizabeth Edwards calls health-care system immoral" 09/17/08
photo courtesy of ariedana used under its Creative Commons license

Health Care, Politics, and Disputed Numbers

It is to be expected that the claims made by political candidates will not only come under scrutiny, but also be hotly disputed across the board. So it is in the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Since universal care is within reach depending on circumstances, it behooves us to take a good look at the claims being made.

Kevin Sack, who blogs on The Caucus (The New York Times' political blog), brings us one of the aforementioned disputes in the form of quotes from the McCain camp juxtaposed against a panel of economists:

Senator John McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, recently said in a conference call with reporters that Mr. McCain’s health care proposal would “put 25 to 30 million individuals out of the ranks of the uninsured, into the ranks of the insured.” In an article released Tuesday, a panel of prominent health economists concludes that Mr. Holtz-Eakin’s projection is off by, well, 25 to 30 million.

The McCain strategy, as unveiled so far, includes removing the tax exempt status of employer-provided health care while counterbalancing it with individual tax credits to make purchasing individual care less burdensome.

Within a few years, however, the trend would reverse, the study asserts. That is because, according to Mr. Holtz-Eakin, the McCain health care tax credits would be indexed to “regular inflation,” presumably the Consumer Price Index, which is typically lower than annual increases in health care costs. Unless costs can be substantially reined in, the credits would therefore enable fewer people to afford coverage each year, leading to an eventual rise in the number of uninsured.

Their findings agree with those of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution last July which also predicts initial effectiveness followed by a steady upward creep in the number of uninsured. According to The New York Times, Holtz-Eakin did not respond to their request for a comment.

SOURCE: "Journal Disputes McCain’s Health Care Claims" 09/16/66
photo courtesy of SoggyDan, used under its Creative Commons license

Biden Speaks on Health Care, Slams McCain Plan

Well the airwaves, newspapers and Internet are full to bursting with news and commentary related to the Presidential race, particularly now that the VP choices have been made on both sides of the aisle.

On the Democratic Party's side, Sen. Joe Biden is moving forward as an outspoken and determined VP choice for Sen. Obama. In a recent speech in Mehlville, Missouri, speaking to a socially conservative, predominantly blue collar crowd, he tied the growing unease about health care to the rising unemployment that the community has recently experienced. He then issued a no nonsense warning to the crowd about the net result of the McCain proposal on this subject.

Via Jo Mannies at STL Today:

[...]taxing American workers' health care is not the answer, he said. Under McCain's plan, Biden said, a person earning $50,000 a year, with employer-provided health care worth $12,000 a year, would be subject to income taxes on all $62,000. Now, no taxes are levied on their health care benefits.

McCain has been highlighting his proposed $5,000 a year tax credit to offset some of that tax hike, but Biden said that at least $7,000 would still be subject to the tax.

Sen. Biden then went on to state that the change in structure proposed by the McCain ticket would cause more employers to drop health care coverage. An assertion that carries quite a punch, especially in the context of the American working class.

At a town hall earlier that day, Sen. Biden called it a "moral obligation" for the government to make health care available to all U.S. citizens.

SOURCE: "Bid focuses on healthcare, rips Republicans, in Mehlville stop" 09/10/08
photo courtesy of IowaPolitics.com, used under its Creative Commons license