Democratic Rivals Joust on Health Care
Originally published in the Mercury News
Posted on Thu, Aug. 14, 2003
Democratic Rivals Joust on Health Care
MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa - Seven Democratic presidential nominees used an Iowa political forum Thursday to offer deeply personal pitches for revamping the nation's health system and to bash President Bush and large pharmaceutical companies.
Most of the major Democratic candidates have offered plans to expand the nation's health care system, and would finance their efforts by repealing various portions of the tax cut the president pushed through Congress.
"America has a choice, it can have tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans or health care for all Americans," Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry told the gathering of health care advocates.
Kerry used his recent bout with prostate cancer and the expensive treatment he got for the disease as an example of why the system needs to be changed. "We must stop being the only industrial nation in the world that does not understand that health care is not a privilege, it is a right," he said.
Florida Sen. Bob Graham has health issues of his own, undergoing major heart surgery before he entered the race. "Clearly one of the challenges facing America is making health care affordable and accessible to all," Graham said. "That is a goal to which we all should be committed."
Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt pointed to his son's bout with cancer, and called health care a "moral issue." "It is immoral in this country to have people not have health care," Gephardt shouted.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a doctor, said he wanted the whole country to have health care like Vermont, which has health coverage for all youngsters and subsidized care for the working poor.
"It can pass," Dean said. "I'm tired of having Democrats tilt at windmills."
Dean later had one of his more colorful days on the campaign trail, as 200 people packed a local blues club to watch him play harmonica and guitar. Dean accompanied two other performers on two songs, including one written specifically for his campaign. He quietly sang along with lyrics like "Dean for America" and "losing my mind from being left behind."
Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich offered their pitch for a single-payer, government-run health care system, where health coverage isn't tied to the workplace.
"This plan can work, this plan is cheaper than the current system," Kucinich said. "We're paying for universal health care and we're not getting it."
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards touted his $53 billion plan to offer tax credits to help pay for insurance costs and argued that Bush's health care plans are likely dictated by political adviser Karl Rove.
"President Bush's prescription for Iowa's health care problems is to make two calls to 'Dr. Rove,' raise another $170 million from his friends at the big insurance and drug companies and then forget about the problem in the morning," Edwards said.
Gephardt also complained that giant pharmaceutical companies influence Bush's health care plans.
"They put $70 million into the campaigns only of Republicans," Gephardt said. "It's time to kick the moneychangers out of the temples of government."
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