08 candidates and Universal Healthcare positions.

[Mass]

In 08, a few words will be in every candidate' mouth: Global warming, trade, national security, and universal healthcare.

However, behind these words that will be mandatory for a Democratic candidate to even consider having a shot to the nomination, it is probable that very different realities will exist, from the very best to the very worst.

For those candidates (or potential candidates) who have already expressed some of the larger lines of their proposal on this issue, could their supporters post here what they are?

[citizen snips]

1. Edwards believes in universal healthcare.

http://www.johnedwards.com/about/issues/

[Mass]

2. And what does he mean by that?

Do you have the the larger lines of his plan? Every single candidate for the nomination is going to say exactly that and they will aim at very different proposals.

[renie408]

3. I can't find any specifics

on his current website. Maybe Mattman can. I do remember that part of his approach during the '04 primaries had to do with approaching the health insurance/medical profession/drug company triumvirate. He thought you could make health insurance affordable for all by breaking up the kind of system that allows a hospital to charge $5 for an Advil (this is my example, not his).

I do find a consistent commitment to universal healthcare throughout his speeches and it has been something he has talked about since he began running before the last election. I believe that he feels it is central to solving the poverty problem he views as a such a huge disgrace in the US.

[citizen snips]

4. I am sure that will come out during the debates.

[renie408]

5. I am hoping they will get something up before then

Even if it is just an outline. I would like to hear what he has in mind. This is an important issue for my family as we are self-employed.

[citizen snips]

8. I agree

I want to hear more about this because it such an improtant issue.

[citizen snips]

11. UPDATE: I have found something on the John Edwards blog

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2006/12/28/203337/59

[IndyOp]

16. There isn't anything on that page from John and the comment from

the blogger is very disappointing -- if we reduce health care costs we can keep the insurance plans we have. Bullshit.

[still_one]

6. what is his position on us getting out of Iraq? /nt

[citizen snips]

7. 50,000 immediate troop withdraw.

and incriminate withdraws from there until we are out of Iraq.

[still_one]

10. That is positive. I would hope hope he wants us out within a year

because anything else is ridiculous especially when you are in a civil war

[renie408]

9. Go fish for an Iraq thread. This is a universal health thread. n/t

[hijinx87]

13. LOL!

it's not like they are hard to find.

[hijinx87]

12. you mean there is an issue besides iraq?

perish the thought.:evilgrin:

[Tom Rinaldo]

14. From Clark's January 2006 "Real State of the Union" Speach

"-In health care, we need to take better advantage of modern technology to practice evidence-based medicine, in which treatments and practices are based on statistically proven results — not commercial advertising — and doctors and hospitals are held accountable for their performance, not just by the threat of malpractice but by the day-to-day quality of their results.

We need to harness the innovation of our biotech, pharmaceutical, and health insurance industries better to serve the public good, not just the private gain of shareholders. No child in America should grow up without regular medical check-ups and care — or regular exercise and physical fitness - and every adult should be provided access to the kinds of diagnostic testing and preventive treatments which can slow the onset of aging diseases like diabetes, atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer's. Additional insurance coverage should be directed to catastrophic illness and injuries, the kind that wreck families and shatter productive lives.

And inevitably this will mean transitioning over time from a work place centered, private payer system toward greater reliance on some form of single-payer system to ease administrative burdens and reduce costs."

http://securingamerica.com/node/560

[LWolf]

15. Sure.

I'm surprised you have to ask, since Dennis Kucinich has had a comprehensive plan on record for years. It was up at his web site in '03, and he and Conyers have introduced a bill since then.

http://kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php

<snip>

Perhaps the clearest and most eloquent explanation of the Conyers-Kucinich National Health Insurance Bill was given on February 4, 2003, in Washington, D.C. by Dr. Marcia Angell in introducing H. R. 676. Backed by over 14,000 doctors, this is the future of American medicine.

"We are here today to introduce a national health insurance program. Such a program is no longer optional; it's necessary.

"Americans have the most expensive health care system in the world. We spend about twice as much per person as other developed nations, and that gap is growing. That's not because we are sicker or more demanding (Canadians, for example, see their doctors more often and spend more time in the hospital). And it's not because we get better results. By the usual measures of health (life expectancy, infant mortality, immunization rates), we do worse than most other developed countries. Furthermore, we are the only developed nation that does not provide comprehensive health care to all its citizens. Some 42 million Americans are uninsured (nearly 46 million today -- updated figure) -- disproportionately the sick, the poor, and minorities -- and most of the rest of us are underinsured. In sum, our health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate. Why? The only plausible explanation is that there's something about our system -- about the way we finance and deliver health care -- that's enormously inefficient. The failures of the system were partly masked during the economic boom of the 1990's, but now they stand starkly exposed. There is no question that with the deepening recession and rising unemployment, in the words of John Breaux, 'The system is collapsing around us.'

"The underlying problem is that we treat health care like a market commodity instead of a social service. Health care is targeted not to medical need, but to the ability to pay. Markets are good for many things, but they are not a good way to distribute health care. To understand what's happening, let's look at how the health care market works ... "

More at the link.

[Mass]

17. In fact, Kucinich's plan is the only one I would call " universal" .

But so many people have been using the word "universal healthcare" recently without even telling us what they mean by that. Sometimes, it is worth knowing what hides behind the words.

[Mass]

18. I have seen several people today assume that Edwards was proposing

"single payer health insurance".

Does anybody have any link that would clarify that? Universal Healthcare does not necessarily refer to single payer (though it should).

Here is for example Wyden's bill for Universal Healthcare, that I am only posting because he is not an 08 candidate. It is a bill that improves the situation by acknowledging some of the existing problems, but it is NOT a single payer insurance proposal. Neither is the MA bill that was passed last year.

http://wyden.senate.gov/media/2006/12132006_Healthy_Americans_Act.htm