Getting health care is a costly crisis for a growing number of Americans. And that has made health care a major issue as voters cast their ballots in Tuesday’s presidential primaries.
Consider these health care statistics:
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The families of 61.6 million people are expected to spend over 10 percent of their pre-tax income on health care this year and another 17.8 million will spend over 25 percent of their pre-tax income on such expenses, reports Families USA, which advocates for universal health coverage.
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Health care expenses accounted for 15 percent of the economy in 2004 — approximately $1.9 trillion – according to a government report.
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Nearly, over 47 million Americans – including 8.3 million children — are uninsured.
The skyrocketing cost and the lack of insurance coverage have put health care at the top of Americans’ concerns in this election, rivalled by only the economy and the war in Iraq. The leading Democratic presidential candidates both offer similar plans for resolving the problems.
Here are highlights from the leading Democratic candidates:
Sen. Hillary Clinton: For her, this is a second attempt at repairing the health care system. As First Lady in the 1990’s administration of her husband, Bill Clinton, she led an unsuccessful effort to overhaul health care. She now says she learned important lessons from that failure. Her plan now includes:
- A requirement for everyone to buy insurance.
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Tax credits for working families to cover the cost of their insurance premium.
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Protection for those with pre-existing problems so they can’t be denied coverage.
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Restrictions so that insurance companies can’t charge higher rates for people with health problems.
In the final Democratic debate before Super Tuesday on CNN on Thursday, Sen. Clinton reiterated her support for universal coverage. “It is so important that, as Democrats, we carry the banner of universal health care,” she said.
For more details, go to www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/healthcareplan/summary.asp
Sen. Barack Obama: His proposals also promise to cover every American. His plan would:
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Require insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing health condition.
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Create a national health plan for the uninsured, similar to the one for members of Congress.
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Require employers to contribute a percentage of payroll to the cost of the national plan.
Obama portrays his plan as a realistic way of getting everyone covered.
“Every expert who looks at it,” he said in the CNN debate on Thursday, “says there won’t be anybody out there who wants health care who will not be able to get it.”
Details on www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/#coverage-for-all
Both candidates are making sincere efforts at overhauling the system, says Grant Reeher, a political scientist from Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He expressed optimism that such plans are realistic and achievable.
Maryland, Vermont, Wisconsin, he said, are examples of those states that already have such universal health care policy for their people.
“It’s not rhetoric.” Reeher said. “It’s real. If they should happen to win,” he added, “it will be in the agenda.”
(Trina Joshi is a graduate student in magazine-newspaper-online journalism.)
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