John Edwards on Universal Health Care

[Czolgosz]

"We have to stop using words like 'access to health care' when we know with certainty those words mean something less than universal care. Who are you willing to leave behind without the care he needs? Which family? Which child? We need a truly universal solution, and we need it now.

The time has come for a universal health care reform that covers everyone, cuts costs, and provides better care. The number of uninsured Americans has risen to 47 million. Families with insurance face rapidly rising premiums and risk losing coverage when they need it most. Individuals and small businesses often face much higher premiums and sometimes cannot get coverage at any price. Our health care system is the most expensive in the world, yet the results are often disappointing."

http://johnedwards.com/about/issues/health-care-overview.pdf

"COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Democratic presidential candidate and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards told some Council Bluffs seniors on Friday that he is working to get them universal health care. "We have a dysfunctional health-care system," Edwards said during a campaign stop at the Council Bluffs Senior Center.

Health care is central to Edwards' campaign, and he told the assembled group that 42 million Americans have no health care coverage. He said premiums have risen 90 percent over the past six years and that the government has an obligation to make sure everyone has affordable health care. "It's based on the concept of all of us taking some responsibility so that we can make universal health care available," Edwards said.

Edwards' plan includes:

* Businesses would be required to cover their employees.
* Businesses that don't would have to pay into a fund.
* Health-care markets would allow people choose either public or private insurance.
* Chronic and long-term care would be covered 100 percent.
* Preventative care would be covered.
* Premiums would be subsidized.

"We're going to bring down the cost of health care in America dramatically," Edwards said. Edwards said his plan would cost $90 billion to $120 billion a year. He said he would be willing to raise taxes to pay for it but thinks much of the money can come from somewhere else first."

http://www.kcci.com/news/11215577/detail.html

"One of the reasons that I want to be president of the United States is to make sure that every woman and every person in America gets the same things that we have," Edwards said referring to the announcement last week that his wife Elizabeth will be in cancer treatment the rest of her life.

Edwards was also the only candidate who said that, without doubt, taxes would have to be raised to be pay for the $90-120 billion price tag on his plan for universal coverage. Anybody saying otherwise, he said, is likely trying to sell the voters the "Brooklyn Bridge." Senator Barack Obama didn't rule out raising taxes, saying he would do "whatever it takes" to get universal coverage by the end of his first term but wasn't specific.

Edwards' plan, first unveiled earlier this year, calls for an expansion of both public and private health plans, forces employers to either provide health care or pay into a fund that does, mandates individuals to buy insurance and offers government subsidies for families with incomes of up to $80k who can't afford it....

Another high-ranking West Coast SEIU official, speaking to me off the record, said: "If the election were held today, we'd be supporting Edwards. When he comes into town he asks what he can do for us. Hillary asks us what we can do for her." In 2004, the SEIU was an early endorser of Howard Dean and by the end of the general campaign had put $65 million into pro-Democratic campaigns. "This time around I can tell you it's not going to be less than $65 million," Burger told me, referring to the '08 campaign. SEIU will not, however, endorse a Democratic candidate until this coming September.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=179039

See Edwards talk about universal health care here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_GJrovHSs,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X-npqCSIwc&mode=related&search=,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrczxwOyUM0&mode=related&search=

[benny05]

1. This would be better on the Political Video Forum

Otherwise, good post.

[Czolgosz]

2. I added the video links as an afterthought. Here is more non-video content on Edwards's health plan

"One of the reasons that I want to be president of the United States is to make sure that every woman and every person in America gets the same things that we have," Edwards said referring to the announcement last week that his wife Elizabeth will be in cancer treatment the rest of her life.

Edwards was also the only candidate who said that, without doubt, taxes would have to be raised to be pay for the $90-120 billion price tag on his plan for universal coverage. Anybody saying otherwise, he said, is likely trying to sell the voters the "Brooklyn Bridge." Senator Barack Obama didn't rule out raising taxes, saying he would do "whatever it takes" to get universal coverage by the end of his first term but wasn't specific.

Edwards' plan, first unveiled earlier this year, calls for an expansion of both public and private health plans, forces employers to either provide health care or pay into a fund that does, mandates individuals to buy insurance and offers government subsidies for families with incomes of up to $80k who can't afford it....

Another high-ranking West Coast SEIU official, speaking to me off the record, said: "If the election were held today, we'd be supporting Edwards. When he comes into town he asks what he can do for us. Hillary asks us what we can do for her." In 2004, the SEIU was an early endorser of Howard Dean and by the end of the general campaign had put $65 million into pro-Democratic campaigns. "This time around I can tell you it's not going to be less than $65 million," Burger told me, referring to the '08 campaign. SEIU will not, however, endorse a Democratic candidate until this coming September.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=179039

[benny05]

3. This works

I do suggest posting the video in the video forum though, too.

[Nutmegger]

4. You will get a R&K from me.

:thumbsup:

[Czolgosz]

5. Thanks

[truedelphi]

6. Health care as it is takes up the expense of not just

Money (and believe me, money matters to most of us) but also time.

Imagine that a family member is ill, but rather than spending quality time helping them get through their day you are on the phone 8 or 10 or more hours each week battling the insurance companies.

Last year when Mark was both ill and BLIND, I was a nut case not only because of the overwhelmingness of having to take care of him but also because of the my job as advocate.

Luckily he survived the illness and through cataract surgery re-gained his sight, but right now, I cannot spend even a moment listening to elevator music - it brings back to o many memories of what those days were like. <Ma'am, would you like to hold while...>

[Czolgosz]

7. Here is how the Edwards plan is radically different from, and much better than, Arnold's plan which

uses some of the same terminology but has none of the key provisions which will lead from the Edwards plan to single payer universal health care.

For those who don't have insurance through employment, Edwards offers a "Health Market" which would allow individuals without the bargaining power of an employer as big as Wal-Mart to buy insurance on their own get the same low rates as people with employer-sponsored insurance get. To be eligible to sell in this "Health Market" private insurers would have to offer the same benefits as the local private insurance plan, and they couldn't discriminate based upon preexisting medical condition. If private insurers didn't want to compete on these terms, a government run insurer based on a Medicare model would insure these people.

Edwards would expand eligibility for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program so people too poor to benefit from tax credits could get insurance.

The Edwards plan for a Health Market has a Medicare buy-in provision so when people buy insurance through the Health Markets, they'll have the option to subscribe to government run insurance program modeled on Medicare. This but-in sets private insurers into competition with the Medicaid model. If the government run single payer system works as we advocates of the program expect, then the private insurers will not be able to compete with the government run Medicare-modeled insurance, and we'll have a single payer system. This is an intentional feature of Edwards plan: "Over time, the system may evolve toward a single-payer approach if individuals and businesses prefer the public plan."

Moreover, under the Edwards plan, the Health Markets would regulate the actions of private insurers and would negotiate and collect premiums and take on other administrative functions like billing and claims processing. In this sense, some of the saving promised by a single payer system would be realized in the Edwards plan.

Arnold's plan, and Romney's, has none of these key features.