Barack Obama on Health Care : Dec 13, 2007
FactCheck: Reducing obesity would save $18B, not $1T

Obama got this claim from a "candidate briefin book" put out by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank run by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta. CAP cites the CDC & the Commonwealth Fund as sources for the estimate, but representatives from both organizations told us that the claim was unfamiliar to them.

We worked up our own back-of-the-envelope estimate: The CDC officially estimates that obesity cost $75 billion in 2003; & that approximately half of the cost burden for both overweight and obese people is borne by Medicaid and Medicare; & obesity rates doubled between 1980 and 2000. So if obesity rates returned to "rates that existed in 1980" they would be cut in half, and Medicare & Medicaid would save about a quarter of $75 billion, or roughly $18.75 billion per year.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Dec 13, 2007
FactCheck: Between 7% and 31% of costs are administrative

Richardson's statistic does have some support, however. A 2007 survey conducted by PNC Financial Services Group said that nearly a third of expenditures went to administration. But that finding was merely the opinion of the 200 hospital and insurance company executives queried.

Also, a 2003 article in the New England Journal of Medicine said that in 1999, 31% of health care expenditures went to administration. The authors included indirect costs, such as an estimate for the time physicians spend on administrative work.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Oct 30, 2007
Give students incentives to become health professionals

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Oct 30, 2007
Insurance companies make money by NOT providing health care

Barack Obama on Health Care : Oct 30, 2007
Tackle insurance companies on reimbursement system

Hillary Clinton on Health Care : Oct 30, 2007
Insurance companies cannot deny people coverage

Rudy Giuliani on Health Care : Oct 21, 2007
Medicare and Medicaid need a private solution

Mitt Romney on Social Security : Oct 21, 2007
Favors private accounts; prepared to be entirely bold

Ron Paul on Health Care : Oct 21, 2007
Insurance companies & gov't make healthcare unaffordable

A: Well, we've had managed care, now, for about 35 years. It's not working, and nobody's happy with it. The doctors aren't happy. The patients aren't happy. Nobody seems to be happy--except the corporations, the drug companies and the HMOs.

Tom Tancredo on Social Security : Oct 21, 2007
Give people the ability to control their own money

A: We have to structurally change both Social Security and Medicare. All the stuff that we talk about in terms of discretionary spending that we can cut, ridiculous. It won't matter in the total scheme of things. You've got to go after those and structurally change them. I agree entirely with the idea of doing it by giving people the ability to control their own money, moving it from--just exactly like they would in their 401(k).

Fred Thompson on Health Care : Oct 21, 2007
Less benefits for high-income Medicare beneficiaries

A: Yes. As I think that you have stated them, yes. I don't want to be bound to your exact words, but the principles that you've outlined are absolutely correct.

Rudy Giuliani on Social Security : Oct 21, 2007
Get a consensus behind private accounts

Duncan Hunter on Social Security : Oct 21, 2007
Address entitlement programs with trade policy

A: One thing we need with this smaller generation that's coming up, that's going to have to carry these massive loads, is bigger paychecks. You take a $75,000-a-year job, and you move it to China, and that guy gets a $20,000-a-year job, the amount of money that he or she contributes to Medicare and Social Security falls off the cliff. Now, we've lost over 3 million high-paying manufacturing jobs in the last 5 years because we haven't insisted on a level playing field with out competitors.

Q: Congressman, do you really think we can solve the Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs with trade policy?

A: Let me give you one statistic. We have a $161 billion deficit this year. We have an $800 billion trade deficit. And that is closely linked with the ability to take care of our seniors, to take care of Medicare, and to pay Social Security, absolutely.

Fred Thompson on Social Security : Oct 9, 2007
Benefits ok in short-term, but we're eating our seed corn

A Looking at the short-term economic situation, it's very good news. But if you go out a little bit, you will see that we're not going to have Social Security and Medicare as we know it into the future. Our children and our grandchildren certainly are not. We are eating our seed corn. We are spending their money. We're pitting one generation against the next. We've got to do some things better than that, even though the choices are difficult.

Tom Tancredo on Tax Reform : Oct 9, 2007
Takes the oath: no tax increase

A: Absolutely. I'll take the oath. The fact is this, that when we talk about spending cuts, we have to think about what exactly it is that pushes spending at the federal level, which is mandatory spending. If you want to control federal spending, you must look at Social Security and Medicare.

Tom Tancredo on Social Security : Oct 9, 2007
Private Social Security accounts needed to end deficit

But the reality is this: If you don't do it, forget about reducing federal spending. It's not going to happen. You better address Social Security. You better come up with a way to allow for private Social Security accounts, structurally fix both of those things, or forget the idea of ending deficit spending.

John Edwards on Health Care : Sep 13, 2007
Let people choose between private plan and single-payer

A: I constructed my healthcare plan in a way that everybody is required to be covered, but that people could choose between a private plan and the government plan, which is essentially Medicare-Plus. I did that for a very simple reason. Because there is a very good and legitimate argument that we should go straight to single-payer health care as other countries have. I've also heard the flipside of that from lots of people, who are nervous about going to a Canadian system, for example. We're going to have the American people deciding what provides the most cost effective, most efficient, best health care.

Q: You would not necessarily eliminate a single-payer system as the best way to go?

A: Oh, no, I would not. I mean, there are huge advantages to single-payer. Much lower administrative costs. But I thought it was something that we should let Americans decide. Get everybody covered, get rid of the holes in the system.

Mike Gravel on Health Care : Sep 13, 2007
Universal coverage with guaranteed equal care

A: I'd pay for it with a retail sales tax. I favor universal coverage of quality medical care. I favor it through a device of using vouchers where everybody would be able to get a voucher. They'd sign up for it every year. It would guarantee them equal health care. All citizens would get the same health care. They would be able choose from insurance plans or a government plan like Medicare. That's how we would have health care, and the only way you're going to pay for it is not by saddling business. All you do by forcing business to pay for health care or passing a law telling people they have to go buy insurance, which is a subsidy for the insurance companies, all these plans are going backwards.

Chris Dodd on Health Care : Sep 13, 2007
Require at age 55 a physical exam to qualify for Medicare

A: Yes, we do, absolutely. About 75% of the Medicare dollars is caused by chronic illness. I'm looking at a possibility of also requiring at age 55, for instance, a physical exam 10 years before you'd qualify for Medicare so that we could make a determination as to whether or not things like smoking, diet, and so forth are going to contribute to the cost of that chronic illness and the Medicare dollar. Those things need to be done as well. And I've done this, by the way. You know, I wrote the Family Leave Act. It took me seven years to get it done. But I brought Republicans and Democrats together about many controversial issues associated with health care. So I think not only talking what you want to do but where you've been on these issues ought to be constructive to voters.

Ron Paul on Homeland Security : Sep 5, 2007
Eliminate FBI & DHS; interpret intelligence intelligently

A: Well, you might ask a better question. Before 9/11, we were spending $40 billion a year, and the FBI was producing numerous information about people being trained on airplanes, to fly them but not land them. And they totally ignored them. So it's the inefficiency of the bureaucracy that is the problem. So, increasing this with the Department of Homeland Security and spending more money doesn't absolve us of the problem. Yes, we have every right in the world to know something about intelligence gathering. But we have to have intelligent people interpreting this information.

Mike Huckabee on Social Security : Sep 1, 2007
Replace payroll tax & fund Social Security with FairTax

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Aug 9, 2007
Medicare For All: all long-term care totally covered

Other candidates are talking about maintaining this for-profit health care system, and anyone who has ever had a loved one who has needed medical care and couldn't get it because they didn't have the money understands the urgency of having someone not just in the race but in the White House who's ready to rally the American people in the cause of not-for-profit health care, Medicare for all. And I'm doing that.

Rudy Giuliani on Health Care : Aug 5, 2007
$15,000 tax deduction for health savings accounts

A: The bill had two very unfortunate parts to it. One, it would reduce Medicaid Advantage, which is a very, very successful program that actually does bring about some form of a free-market solution. And second, it would have the really odd effect of moving children who presently have private insurance to becoming wards of the state, basically having them move in the direction toward socialized medicine. That would be a terrible thing to do. What we should do is increase the number of people who have private insurance. In order to do that, we should give them a major tax deduction, $15,000, let them have a health savings account as part of that. They'll have an incentive to own their own health insurance. That's the thing that's wrong with the market here. It is not really good to move this thing in terms of more government control of health care.

Fred Thompson on Social Security : Aug 3, 2007
Obligations will sap revenues; can't pass that to kids

I think if a credible case is made to the American people that mom & dad & grandmom & granddad will be more than happy to make the adjustments necessary to protect their kids & their grandkids in the next generation, if they're just given a chance.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Jul 23, 2007
FactCheck: Correct that 33% of Medicare is diabetes

Bill Richardson on Social Security : Jul 23, 2007
Stop talking about privatization; stop raiding trust fund

A: The best solution to those two issues is a bipartisan effort to fix it. 33% of Medicare cost is diabetes. Let's have major prevention programs, and also ways that we can ensure that we find a cure. And stop raiding the Social Security trust fund. Stop talking about privatization. And then thirdly, let's look at a universal pension, 401(k) universal pension, that would assure portability for those that want to keep their pensions as they move into other professions. But what we need is a bipartisan effort. Put this issue aside. If I'm president, I would take this issue and I would say, Republicans, Democrats, within a year, let's find a solution. No politics. This is the safety net of this country.

Sam Brownback on Health Care : Jul 3, 2007
Supports competitive marketplace with price transparency

The problem with the current health care system is that it's not generally seen as using our own money, and we have no price transparency. We don't know what we're paying for. Frequently a third party pays the bill.

The patient needs more information, and we need more price transparency. I've cosponsored a bill requiring the disclosure of the amount Medicare reimburses on typical procedures [made] available over the Internet.

John Cox on Social Security : Jul 2, 2007
Private retirement accounts are best reform

John Edwards on Health Care : Jun 28, 2007
Fully fund finding a cure for AIDS

1. We need to fully fund finding a cure for AIDS, so we can end this scourge once and for all.
2. We need to fully fund the law known as Ryan White, to make sure that the treatment is available for anybody who's diagnosed with AIDS.
3. Finally, we need to ensure that Medicaid covers AIDS drugs and AIDS treatment to make sure that people get the treatment they need, particularly low-income individuals who are diagnosed with AIDS.

Hillary Clinton on Health Care : Jun 28, 2007
Outcry if AIDS were leading disease of young whites

A: Let me just put this in perspective. If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country.

I'm working to get Medicaid to cover treatment. I'm working to raise the budget for Ryan White, which the Bush administration has kept flat, disgracefully so, because there are a lot of women, particularly, who are becoming infected in poor rural areas as well as underserved urban areas in states where, frankly, their state governments won't give them medical care.

So this is a multiple dimension problem. But if we don't begin to take it seriously and address it the way we did back in the '90s, when it was primarily a gay men's disease, we will never get the services and the public education that we need.

John Edwards on Health Care : Jun 28, 2007
FactCheck: Medicaid already covers treatment for HIV/AIDS

Actually, Medicaid, a state-administered health care program for the poor, covers AIDS drugs already. There are no state limitations on Medicaid coverage of AIDS prescriptions.

What Edwards may have been trying to say is that he favors extending Medicaid coverage to low-income HIV patients who don't qualify for Medicaid because they aren't yet sick enough to be considered disabled. Even for low-income persons, just being diagnosed with HIV is not sufficient to be eligible for Medicaid. Many low-income people with HIV are not eligible for Medicaid until they become disabled, despite available therapies that might prevent disability.

Tom Tancredo on Principles & Values : Jun 3, 2007
As president, would tell Bush to never visit White House

A: Some time ago, 2003 I think it was, I got a call from Karl Rove who told me that because of my criticism of the president, I should never darken the doorstep of the White House. I have been so disappointed in the president, not just the immigration issue, but the massive increase in government that we call Medicare prescription drug, that I'm afraid, as president, I'd have to tell George Bush exactly the same thing Karl Rove told me.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Jun 3, 2007
NM plan: mandatory; prevention-based; choose your own plan

Fred Thompson on Social Security : Jun 3, 2007
Social Security & Medicare are generational wealth transfers

People say the programs are going bankrupt. They won't go bankrupt, [because] Washington will raise the taxes necessary to cover the problem. At this rate the federal government is going to wind up as nothing more than a transfer agent--transferring wealth from one generation to another. It will devastate our economy.

[Some believe] that our generation is too greedy to help the next generation. I believe just the opposite is true. If grandmom and granddad think that a little sacrifice will help their grandchildren, they will respond to a credible call to make that sacrifice--if they don't think that the sacrifice is going down some government black hole.

It's clear that we need bipartisanship to have any chance at real reform in any of these areas.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Jun 3, 2007
Half of all bankruptcies come from medical bills

Rudy Giuliani on Government Reform : May 14, 2007
Line item veto is unconstitutional; beat Clinton's in 1990s

A: Correct.

Q: And yet, when you were mayor, Pres. Clinton--when he had that power back in the mid-'90s, he used it to line-item veto what he said was excessive Medicaid spending. You not only opposed it, you took him to the Supreme Court and you got it ruled unconstitutional. So it's because of you we don't have the line-item veto.

A: The line-item veto is unconstitutional, and I'm a strict constructionist. If we want the line-item veto, it has to be done by constitutional amendment. The reality is it so fundamentally alters the separation of powers, it's unconstitutional. The Supreme Court decided that. I believe that. And of course, it was in the interest of my city to advocate for it. It was my job to protect the people of NYC, and I did it vigorously and strongly and we were correct in our interpretation of the Constitution. And the president was incorrect.

Rudy Giuliani on Abortion : May 14, 2007
1997:Supported partial birth; opposed parental notificiation

• Do you support Medicaid funding for abortion without any restrictions? Yes.
• Would you oppose forcing minors to get parental notification before they have an abortion? Yes.
• Would you oppose a ban on partial-birth abortions? Yes.

A: Correct. On parental notification: I looked at the laws that were passed. They created judicial bypass. It seems to me that that is a reasonable way to do it. On partial-birth abortion, I was concerned that there'd be exceptions for the life and the health of the mother. The 2003 congressional hearings, and then the eventual legislation, made provision for the life of the mother and made findings on the health of the mother with which I agreed. I supported it then. I supported the decision.

Mike Gravel on Health Care : Mar 24, 2007
Phase out Medicare and Medicaid over time

A: One of the facets of my plan would be to keep in place Medicare and Medicaid and phase them out over time. Because plans to put everybody on Medicare aren't going to fly financially and just can't be met. We are in deep economic difficulty and in debt. So when you talk about the seniors, this is where you have these health regional boards where in that region they'll be defining what goes into these various vouchers. And they'll change every year depending upon your personal history as you get older. We know it costs less for young people and it costs more for old people. That's just the nature of the situation. So I don't have any magic to take care of the seniors. All I can say is I can set up a structure that will have checks and balances where they'll have a better say, they'll have a better say than they have today.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Mar 24, 2007
All Americans need same coverage as members of Congress

1. All Americans and all businesses should have the same coverage as members of Congress.
2. Americans 55 and older should be able to purchase coverage through Medicare. Today it's at 65.
3. A trade: the federal government, Medicare, goes to treat seniors and the disabled in exchange for the state dealing and increasing Medicare coverage for children and families.
4. Veterans: We should give our military veterans the access they need anywhere they want, any time they want.

Chris Dodd on Health Care : Mar 24, 2007
Extend Medicaid to poorer families

Hillary Clinton on Health Care : Mar 24, 2007
Require electronic medical record for all federal healthcare

After Hurricane Katrina I went down to Houston to see the people who had been evacuated, most in them from the convention center. The elderly, the frail. People who were very dependent upon health care, their records were gone. Those 15 pieces of paper were destroyed. And a lot of doctors told me their biggest problem was trying to figure out what prescriptions to give to people. The only people they could help were the people who had shopped at chain drug stores because they had electronic medical records. If we had that for all of our health records, we'd get costs down & we'd have higher quality health care.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Mar 24, 2007
HR 676, Conyers-Kucinich bill, establishes Medicare for all

We're being told here today to buy into a view of the world which says that, well, you know, but the insurance companies run the system. We'll work out competition between the insurance companies & maybe we'll have government subsidize the insurance companies. Where is our call for greatness?

I'm talking about a real deal for the American people, a universal single-payer not-for-profit Medicare for all. It's already into legislative form. 62 members of Congress have signed on. Over 14,000 physicians have signed on. We can do this. Break the hold of the insurance company on our health care system and lift the American people out of poverty. That's what my presidency is going to be about.

John Cox on Social Security : Mar 6, 2007
Social Security was an overreaction to the Great Depression

A: Providing financial support for its citizens is not listed in the Constitution, as far as I read it. Promoting the general welfare is meant to deal with matters that impact the general economic conditions of the country such as security and enforcement of the rule of law. Social Security was an overreaction to a horrific financial situation that gripped the country--the Great Depression. It is with us now and is almost institutionalized--reality says we cannot get rid of it but we should restructure it to a private account plan to empower people, not government.

Q: How much oversight does the federal government have with these private accounts?

A: Response--most of these plans say that distributions cannot be made except on retirement and death. The federal government will likely make the contribution directly as opposed to a mandate on individuals.

Ron Paul on Social Security : Mar 5, 2007
Federal government won't keep its entitlement promises

Don't believe for a second that we can grow our way out of the problem through a prosperous economy that yields higher future tax revenues. To close the long-term entitlement gap, the US economy would have to grow by double digits every year for the next 75 years.

The answer to these critical financial realities is simple, but not easy: We must rethink the very role of government in our society. Anything less, any tinkering or "reform," won't cut it.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Feb 21, 2007
Key to reform: end role for for-profit insurance companies

A: This health care debate is one of the biggest frauds that's been put on the American people. In 2000 and 2004, I brought forth a proposal, Medicare for All. It's embodied in the Conyers-Kucinich bill. It provides for covering everyone. The big difference between what I've been talking about and all the other candidates are talking about is that my plan doesn't provide for a role for for-profit insurance companies. Our party really isn't legit on the issue of health care, because whenever you talk to these candidates, there's always a role for the for-profit insurance companies. Do you know, almost 31% of the spending that goes for health care goes for the for-profit system -- corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing, the cost of paperwork.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Feb 21, 2007
State flexibility creates universal coverage without taxes

A: I would not increase taxes. The problem is the excessive costs of health care and the coverage. I would focus on preventive health care: like child obesity programs. But the big problem is the huge administrative costs of health care. 31% of the costs are administrative. A lot of it is waste. There are 50 Medicaid programs. They don't give the states the flexibility to run them.

What I like is what some states have done, and that is a Massachusetts-style plan with good benefits that basically says we facilitate it for employers and employees to get mandatory coverage.

Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.   Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada

John Edwards on Health Care : Feb 4, 2007
Medicare: invest in preventive care & better chronic care

A: Yes. Well, we have a huge challenge on this front. I think the starting place is Medicare, not Social Security, simply because Social Security is significantly longer-term than Medicare. Medicare has very serious short-term, intense financial problems, and there are things we can do that we're not doing. We ought to have much better chronic care management than we have today. We ought to be investing in a serious and systemic way in preventative care, which we're not doing today. And we have significant fraud & abuse in the Medicare system. I think there are things we can do to strengthen Medicare. We ought to require providers to compete against each other, & using the power of the federal government to negotiate better prices in Medicare.

John Edwards on Social Security : Feb 4, 2007
We have social contract to not raise retirement age

A: This is the one area where it will require really serious bipartisan effort to get anything done. You know, this has been approached and approached and approached in the past. As president of the United States, I would bring together leaders on both sides and experts and try to put together something that would work on both Social Security and Medicare. But, yes, people are living longer. You know, this applies to my own father and yours; we still have a lot of people in this country who work very, very hard and, when they reach retirement age, they deserve to be able to retire. And I just think we can't ignore the fact that we have made a social contract with millions and millions of Americans, and we can't go out there and just yank it out from under them.

John Edwards on Health Care : Feb 4, 2007
Expand Medicaid & create health markets to cover uninsured

A: I will be laying out details of a universal health care plan. We want to make sure everybody's covered, we want to help middle class families with the costs, we want to try to create competition that doesn't exist today. And I think the most effective way to do that is we take the 47 million people who don't have health care coverage, we expand Medicaid, we provide subsidies for people who don't have coverage. We ask employers to play a bigger role, which means they either have to have coverage, or they have to buy into what we're calling health markets. One of the choices available in these health markets is the government plan. So people who like the idea of a single-payer insurer health plan, that is actually one of the alternatives that people can choose. We expand SCHIP; we expand Medicaid. The bottom line is we're asking everybody to share in the responsibility of making health care work in this country.

Newt Gingrich on Health Care : Dec 1, 2006
Medicare opt-in to private health savings accounts

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Nov 7, 2006
Streamlined national health insurance as Enhanced Medicare

Barack Obama on Health Care : Oct 1, 2006
The market alone can't solve our health-care woes

Given the money we spend on health care, we should be able to provide basic coverage to everyone. But we have to contain costs, including Medicare and Medicaid.

The market alone cannot solve the problem--in part because the market has proven incapable of creating large enough insurance pools to keep costs to individuals affordable. Overall, 20% of all patients account for 80% of the care, and if we can prevent disease or manage their effects, we can dramatically improve outcomes and save money.

With the money saved through increased preventive care and lower administrative and malpractice costs, we would provide a subsidy to low-income families and immediately mandate coverage for all uninsured children.

There is no easy fix, but the point is that if we commit to making sure everyone has decent care, there are ways to do it.

Mitt Romney on Social Security : Aug 25, 2006
Reform entitlements by negotiating behind closed doors

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Nov 3, 2005
Shift Medicaid costs back from states to federal

Washington views the states cynically as a safety valve for its own chronic inability to manage our affairs. It's the worst of all possible worlds: Washington sets the terms of what must be done in certain public programs, then shifts the financial burden to the states.

The worst case in point is Medicaid. Costs are rising , yet the federal government keeps reducing its share of the funding for the program. In my new NM budget, despite federal cuts, we increased Medicaid spending by 16%. Faced with rising costs, we remained committed to providing health care to our most vulnerable citizens. We implemented cost containment measures, and these are a viable solution in the short term, but they won't work in the long term if the feds continue to increase the states' share of the costs.

Rudy Giuliani on Immigration : Oct 11, 2005
NYC services for illegal aliens

• He supports abortion rights & backs late-term abortions & Medicaid funding.
• He is for affirmative action based on race & gender and energetically administered set-aside programs in NYC to encourage minority contractors.
• He favors controls on handguns and rifles, and presided over the most restrictive gun controls in the nation as mayor of NYC.
• He supports greater immigration and the delivery of public services to those who are here illegally.

John Edwards on Health Care : Jun 2, 2005
America's seniors & children victimized by healthcare cuts

John McCain on Health Care : Nov 7, 2004
Supports tax-free medical savings accounts & tax credits

McCain supports the following principles regarding healthcare:
• A Patient's Bill of Rights, including appeal mechanisms when claims are denied, & the right to sue when claims are denied.
• Expanded eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts
• In favor of limits on the amount of punitive damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
• Expanded prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
• Tax credits to individuals and small businesses to offset the cost of insurance coverage.

Barack Obama on Health Care : Oct 12, 2004
Allowing seniors to bulk purchase will save taxpayers' money

A: It was fundamentally flawed as a piece of legislation. The central premise of this prescription drug bill that was passed by Bush was that the federal government, through the Medicare program, and senior citizens could not negotiate for the best possible price with the drug companies, so that they could actually get the kinds of discounts the Canadians enjoy for the drugs that are manufactured here in the US. That was done because the drug companies didn't let it happen. What we have is a bill that's bad for taxpayers and bad for senior citizens. Taxpayers are hit with a half-a-trillion-dollar tab that was originally estimated at three hundred billion. And about 3 weeks later, seniors have a big donut hole in the middle of their benefits. What I would do is I would say that senior citizens, through the Medicare program they can go and negotiate the best possible price as a consequence of being bulk purchasers.

John Edwards on Health Care : Oct 5, 2004
Support allowing prescription drugs into the US from Canada

EDWARDS: They had a choice on allowing prescription drugs into this country from Canada, of being with the American people or with the drug companies. They were with the drug companies. They had a choice on negotiating discounts in the Medicare prescription drug bill of being with the American people or with the drug companies. They were with the drug companies. They had a choice on the patients' bill of rights, allowing people to make their own health care decisions and not having insurance companies make them, be with the American people, be with the big insurance companies. They're with the insurance companies.

Barack Obama on Health Care : Sep 28, 2004
Believes health care is a right, not a privilege for the few

Barack Obama on Health Care : May 2, 2004
Will expand health coverage & allow meds to be re-imported

John Edwards on Health Care : Mar 3, 2004
Cover every child and vulnerable adults

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Jan 20, 2004
Restrain Medicaid costs and maintain benefits

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Jan 20, 2004
Focus on raising childhood immunization rates

Dennis Kucinich on Tax Reform : Jan 4, 2004
Fact Check: Says $40K earners pay same as $400K -not really

KUCINICH: When you consider that a steelworker who's making $40,000 a year has virtually the same tax burden as someone who's making $400,000 a year, you see that there are inequities.

FACTCHECK: That's generally untrue even after the two Bush tax cuts. Even counting Social Security and Medicare taxes along with federal income taxes, households with between $40,000 and $50,000 in income pay an average, combined tax rate just under 19%, much LESS than the nearly 27% rate paid by those whose income falls between $200,000 and $500,000 a year. It is true that a rich person who gets most or all their income from stock dividends and capital gains, and little or nothing from salary or other sources, would pay a lower tax rate than the sort of working person Kucinich mentioned. That's because the rate on capital gains income was cut to 15%. However, such examples are not the rule and it's incorrect to imply otherwise.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Sep 25, 2003
Single-payer for alternative medicine, mental health, more

DEAN: In all due respect to all the candidates here, these folks have been in Washington a long time and talked about health insurance for a long time, and we have very little to show for it. In my state, 99% of the kids that are eligible for health insurance who are under 18, 96% have it. Everybody under 150% of poverty, all our working poor people, have health insurance. And a lot of seniors have prescription benefits. This does need to be a system that's built on what we have. We've done that in Vermont. I'd like the opportunity to do that for the whole country.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Sep 25, 2003
7.7% tax to pay for full coverage

Newt Gingrich on Health Care : Sep 22, 2003
Re-focus Medicare on preventive health instead of sickness

Medicare must be strengthened to include a focus on outcomes-based healthcare. Immediately drugs should be reimbursed in order to de-incentivize reactive acute care. However, the current budgetary structure is clearly biased in favor of reactive care.

It should not matter if a patient is treated in a hospital, in a doctor's office or in their home. The flow of resources should follow the patient and not be driven by a series of bureaucratic structures.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : Aug 1, 2003
Medicare for All: universal single-payer national system

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : May 17, 2003
Private companies charge 18% admin & Medicare charges 3%

That's why I say it's time to take the profit out of health care. We have the money in the system, but right now the private companies are charging about 18% for administration, while the cost of Medicare administration is only 3%.

I think it is urgent that we take profit out of health care. How many homes have this discussion every day in America? "Well, I don't feel well. Ah, we don't have the money to go to the doctor." Or, "Well, we can't afford that surgery." We need to stop those kind of discussions in America. We have the money in this country.

Dennis Kucinich on Social Security : May 17, 2003
Stop privatization and return retirement age to 65

Dennis Kucinich on Government Reform : May 17, 2003
End privatization: it sells government to lowest bidder

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care : May 3, 2003
Raise taxes for guaranteed, single payer, universal care

KUCINICH: We can phase in [an increase] in the payroll tax to 7.7% on all employers and have that be our mainstay of our national health care plan. We have to get the profit out of health care. And that means get the private insurance companies out of health care. Any plan that fails to do that is not going to deliver the best quality universal health care. I introduced HR676, Medicare for all: guaranteed, single payer, universal health care. It's time to have health insurance for the American people, not the insurance companies.

Q: The Republicans are going to say there they go again, Democrats are raising taxes again. Is there anyone willing to rule out raising taxes?

LIEBERMAN: I am not willing to raise taxes to pay for health insurance in [that] way. All I am going to do is put the tax rate back to where it was when Bill Clinton was president, because we did a lot better under Bill Clinton than we are under George Bush.

Mike Huckabee on Health Care : Nov 1, 2002
Guaranteed medical care not government's responsibility

Indicate which principles you support regarding health issues.
• Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state funded care where necessary.
• Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
• Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
• Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
• Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.

Bill Richardson on Health Care : Oct 24, 2002
New Mexico Cares: invest in our health

[My healthcare plan is] driven by a principle that says the health of our citizens is something as a state where we must invest-or we risk falling farther behind in jobs, in education, and every other major category. My approach, which I call "New Mexico Cares," is a seven-part plan.
1. Immediately re-evaluate the structure of our Medicaid contracts and programs to ensure we are holding providers accountable for superior treatment and improved results.
2. Keep doctors in New Mexico by lowering taxes.
3. Institute a new approach of comprehensive care for our elderly and chronically ill.
4. Expand Medicaid enrollment for children.
5. Create a consumer report card for hospitals and healthcare providers.
6. Offer a partnership to business that gives a tax break in exchange for a commitment to provide health insurance to fulltime employees.
7. Establish a statewide telemedicine network, to provide advanced levels of diagnosis and treatment to rural communities throughout our state. Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.   Source: Campaign web site, RichardsonForGovernor.com, "Priorities"

   Mitt Romney on Government Reform : Mar 21, 2002
   Balanced budget amendment and line-item veto

   • Opposed tax increases and new payroll taxes
   • Supported balanced budget amendment and line-item veto
   • Suggested savings could be made through cutbacks in the federal work force, reforms in the Medicaid system, and cuts in farm subsidies.
   Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.   Source: Boston Globe review of 1994 canpaign issues

   Mitt Romney on Abortion : Mar 21, 2002
   Endorsed legalization of RU-486

   • Favored basic Roe v. Wade abortion rights, though would not endorse a specific version of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify those court-established rights as federal law
   • Said he would leave the matter of Medicaid funding for abortion to individual states
   • Endorsed legalization of RU-486, the abortion-inducing drug.
   Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.   Source: Boston Globe review of 1994 canpaign issues

   Fred Thompson on Health Care : Jun 3, 2001
   Medicare loses $11B per year to errors and fraud

   Each year, the Medicare program loses a significant portion of its total budget to erroneous payments. These include payments to people who are not eligible for Medicare, payments for goods or services that are not covered by Medicare, or higher payments than allowed for covered goods or services. The $11.9 billion lost in 2000 due to errors was 6.8% of the entire fee-for-service budget for that year.
   • In the "rent-a-patient" scheme, organizations pay for individuals to go to medical clinics for unnecessary diagnostic tests and cursory examinations, and Medicare is billed.
   • In the "pill mill" scheme, a pharmacy sells medication to pill buyers on the street, who then sell the drugs back to the pharmacy.
   • In the "drop box" scheme, a private mailbox facility is used as the fraudulent health care provider's address to submit claims and receive payments from Medicare and Medicaid.
   These criminals seem capable of cheating the government with frightening ease. Click for Fred Thompson on other issues.   Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 47-49

   Fred Thompson on Health Care : Jun 3, 2001
   Medicare drug payment methods are fundamentally flawed

   Medicare's payment methodology for drugs is fundamentally flawed. Medicare bases its payments on a drug's "average wholesale price." However, the "average wholesale price" that Medicare uses is essentially meaningless since it bears little or no resemblance to actual wholesale prices available to physicians, suppliers, and other large government purchasers. The Medicare reimbursement rate for a particular drug sometimes also includes payment for dispensing and administering a drug. Click for Fred Thompson on other issues.   Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 50-51

   Tommy Thompson on Health Care : Feb 2, 2001
   Vows to protect Medicare, add drug benefit

   We will modernize Medicare so it is effective and financially sound for today’s seniors and for tomorrow’s. And, we must find a way to provide seniors and the disabled affordable access to prescription drugs. In the next few weeks, we will craft a Patient’s Bill of Rights. We will aggressively act to provide access to affordable health insurance for the more than 43 million Americans who are uninsured. Click for Tommy Thompson on other issues.   Source: Introductory speech to HHS Employees

   Al Gore on Families & Children : Nov 6, 2000
   Fiscal discipline helps single people as well as families

   Q: What is one example of something in your plans that would improve opportunities for single adults past their college years?

   A:In just a few days, Americans will have a choice between two very different visions for America. My vision is of responsible tax cuts targeted to help the middle-class, paying down the national debt to strengthen Social Security, Medicare and our economy and making key investments in education, health care, law enforcement and the environment. Single adults will benefit from my plan to ensure that Social Security is there when they retire, while creating a new 401 (k)-style investment plan to help people save for retirement, buy a first home or get new job training. They will benefit from good new jobs that result from fiscal discipline and key investments in new technologies. And they will have an easier time buying a home or paying off student loans, as we eliminate the national debt to keep down interest rates.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Associated Press

   Al Gore on Health Care : Oct 17, 2000
   Drug companies spend more on ads than on research

   Q: What about expensive prescription drugs?

   BUSH: Step one is to reform the Medicare system. I want to call upon Republicans and Democrats to take care of a senior prescription drug program. I think it’s important to have what’s called Immediate Helping Hand, which is direct money to states so seniors don’t have to chose between food and medicine.

   GORE: I have never been afraid to take on the big drug companies. They are now spending more money on advertising than they are on research. They’re trying to artificially extend the monopoly so they can keep charging high prices. I want to streamline the approval of generic drugs so that we bring the price down. I proposed a prescription drug benefit under Medicare. You pick your own doctor and the doctor chooses the prescription and nobody can overrule your doctor. You go to your own pharmacy and Medicare pays half. If you’re poor, they pay all of it. If you have extraordinarily high costs, then they pay all over $4,000 out of pocket.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: St. Louis debate

   Al Gore on Health Care : Oct 11, 2000
   Claims of Bush’s choices & benefits are underestimated

   GORE: A married man, 70 years old, with income of $25,000 a year. under Bush’s plan, would not get one penny for four to five years.

   ANALYSIS: This is TRUE if the couple’s annual drug bill does not exceed $6,000. If it did, under Bush’s plan, the government would pay the rest.

   GORE: And after 4 to 5 years, they would be forced to go into an HMO or to an insurance company.

   ANALYSIS: This is NOT TRUE. They would not be forced into an HMO or private plan-they could choose to remain in Medicare.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Presidential Debate, Boston Globe, “Number Crunch”, p. A15

   Al Gore on Principles & Values : Oct 11, 2000
   Promises to get the big things right; sorry for exaggerating

   Q: Do you think the voters should question the Vice President’s credibility?

   BUSH: It’s important for the president to be credible with Congress and foreign nations. It’s something people need to consider. I’m going to defend my record against exaggerations. Exaggerations like only 5% of seniors receive benefits under my Medicare package. That’s what he said the other day. That’s simply not the case.

   GORE: I got some of the details wrong last week. I’m sorry about that. One of the reasons I regret it is that getting a detail wrong interfered with my point. However many days that young girl in Florida stood in her classroom doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of overcrowded classrooms in America and we need to do something about that. I can’t promise that I will never get another detail wrong. But I will promise you that I will work my heart out to get the big things right for the American people.

   Q: Does that resolve the issue?

   BUSH: That’s going to be up to the people.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: (X-ref Bush) Presidential Debate at Wake Forest

   Hillary Clinton on Health Care : Oct 8, 2000
   Health goal is affordable coverage for all

   Q: Would you support a universal health care bill?

   CLINTON: We need to take step-by-step progress toward providing insurance for every American. I’d expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program. I’d allow people between 55 and 65 to buy into Medicare. I want to see mental health considered on parity. He’s opposed the “patients’ bill of rights” that is supported in a bipartisan coalition, as well as by 300 medical and health groups. And he’s gone for the GOP version of the prescription drug benefit, which wouldn’t cover 650,000 New Yorkers.

   LAZIO: Mrs. Clinton’s plan in 1993 would have been an unmitigated disaster. No New Yorker would ever have written a bill that would have led to 75,000 jobs being destroyed, health care rationing and the destruction of many of our teaching hospitals. I have supported doubling the amount of money that we spend on health care research. I have voted for deductibility for those employees who are not covered by an employer’s plan.

   Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.   Source: Senate debate in Manhattan

   Al Gore on Health Care : Oct 3, 2000
   Put Medicare in lockbox so seniors can afford prescriptions

   GORE: I will put Medicare in a lockbox. Under the governor’s plan, if you kept the same fee-for-service that you have now under Medicare, your premiums would go up by between 18 and 47%. There’s a man here named George McKinney. He’s 70 years old, he has high blood pressure, his wife has heart trouble. They have income of $25,000 a year. They cannot pay for their prescription drugs. Under my plan, half of their costs would be paid right away. Under Bush’s plan, they would get not one penny for four to five years, and then they would be forced to go into an HMO or to an insurance company, but there would be no limit on the premiums or the deductibles.

   BUSH: I cannot let this go, the “We’re going to scare you in the voting booth.” Under my plan, the man gets immediate help with prescription drugs. It’s called “Immediate Helping Hand.”

   GORE: If you make more than $25,000 a year, you don’t get a penny of help under the Bush prescription drug proposal for at least four to five years.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Presidential debate, Boston MA

   Al Gore on Government Reform : Oct 3, 2000
   Use historic surplus to balance budget and help middle class

   Q: What are the choices facing people in November?

   GORE: We’ve got the biggest surplus in history. Will we use that prosperity wisely in a way that benefits all of our people and doesn’t go just to the few? I think we have to invest in education, protecting the environment, health care, a prescription drug benefit that goes to all seniors, not just to the poor; under Medicare, not relying on HMOs and insurance companies. I think that we have to help parents and strengthen families. I think we have got to have welfare reform taken to the next stage. I think that we have got to balance the budget every single year.

   BUSH: He’s going to grow the federal government in the largest increase since Johnson in 1965. We’re talking about a massive government, folks. We’re talking about adding to or increasing 200 new programs, 20,000 new bureaucrats. Imagine how many IRS agents it’s going to take to be able to figure out his targeted tax cut for the middle class that excludes 50 million Americans.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Presidential debate, Boston MA

   Al Gore on Health Care : Oct 3, 2000
   Medicare Rx plan: you choose, Medicare pays

   GORE: Under the Medicare prescription drug proposal I’m making, here’s how it works: You go to your own doctor and your doctor chooses your prescription, and no HMO or insurance company can take those choices away from you. Then you go to your own pharmacy, you fill the prescription and Medicare pays half the cost. If you’re in a very poor family or you have very high costs, Medicare will pay all the costs, a $25 premium and much better benefits than you can possibly find in the private sector.

   BUSH: I’ve got a plan on Medicare that’s a two-stage plan that says we’re going to have immediate help for seniors in what I call “Immediate Helping Hand,” a $48 billion program. [Then,] seniors are going to have not only a Medicare plan where the poor seniors will have their prescriptions paid for, but there will be a variety of options. My plan not only trusts seniors with options, my plan sets aside $3.4 trillion for Medicare over the next 10 years.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: (X-ref Bush) Presidential debate, Boston MA

   Mike Huckabee on Health Care : Oct 1, 2000
   Designed ARKids for preventive healthcare for kids

   In 1996, there were 110,000 Arkansas children whose parents were working and had avoided welfare but whose income was not enough to afford adequate health insurance for their children.

   These kids fell into an unfair trap. They were the children of parents who earned too much to qualify for Medicaid and not enough to afford quality private health insurance plans. These were children whose chronic illnesses were often going untreated.

   Since its conception in 1997, the ARKids First program has been incredibly successful in insuring more than 60,000 children.

   The real value of ARKids First will not be seen immediately, but I'm convinced it's less expensive to prevent a problem than it is to try to fix it once it has grown into something much larger.

   Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.   Source: Living Beyond Your Lifetime, by Mike Huckabee, p. 97-99

   Al Gore on Abortion : Sep 30, 2000
   Opposes partial birth abortion, but opposes banning it

   Gore’s approach to abortion is just as pragmatic as Bush’s. As a Congressman for a conservative Tennessee district, he cast more votes against abortion than in favor. But as he became a national figure he changed his position, and now claims that he will do everything in his power to prevent Roe v. Wade from being overturned. Gore:
8. opposes parental-notification laws
9. Opposes partial birth abortion, but also opposes Republican attempts to ban it
10. supports Medicaid funding of abortion. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: The Economist, “Issues 2000” special

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 30, 2000
    Cover 12 million uninsured at a 10-year cost of $157 billion

    Gore has a more articulate, wide-ranging strategy on health, besides a more aggressive attitude to drug companies and HMOs. He proposes to:
    • Cover 12 million uninsured at a 10-year cost of $157 billion
    • proposes to extend health insurance to the uninsured by expanding the State-Children’s Insurance Program (S-CHIP) to include both more children and also their parents.
    • wants to change the Medicare rules to let Americans buy into the program with the help of a 25% tax credit, ten years earlier than they can now. Estimates for costs and coverage are 12 million more Americans insured, at a cost of $157 billion over ten years.
    • proposes providing a subsidized prescription drug benefit to all enrolled in Medicare, administered through the existing Medicare system. Estimated costs: $253 billion over ten years.
    • supports a patients’ bill of rights which extends broad rights such as guaranteed access to specialists and the ability to sue negligent health plans.
    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: The Economist, “Issues 2000”

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 25, 2000
    Stronger penalties for HMOs who drop seniors

    “I won’t go along with plans that would force (seniors) into HMOs. The other side has called Medicare a ‘government HMO.’ We will no longer just accept the rising wave of HMOs dropping seniors and denying them coverage, all to enhance their bottom line.’’ He proposed doubling the minimum requirement for HMOs contracting with the government to provide health care to the elderly and disabled in Medicare. He also would double the penalty for HMOs who drop patients. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: AP Story, NY Times

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 23, 2000
    Protect Medicare’s funds with “lockbox”

    Gore’s “Crossroads” plan for Protecting Medicare:
    • Takes the entire Medicare surplus ($360 billion over ten years) and places it in a lockbox;
    • Ensures that Medicare payroll taxes only go for Medicare and paying down the federal debt;
    • Uses the interest savings from debt reduction to keep Medicare solvent until at least 2030.
    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Medicare at a Crossroads, page 5

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 23, 2000
    Encourage competition, ensure choice, stop abuses

    The plan would have health providers compete for the business of seniors on the basis of both quality and price. The plan will also crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse and take steps to rationalize cost sharing, reform Medigap, and ensure adequate provider payment rates. The plan will make Medicare more competitive by ensuring choice, and it will make it harder for HMOs to drop seniors and will forbid “cherry-picking.” Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Medicare at a Crossroads, page 45

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 23, 2000
    Free preventive cancer screenings for Medicare beneficiaries

    In order to eliminate financial barriers to critical preventive services, the Gore plan eliminates the Part B deductible and co-payment for Medicare preventive services: hepatitis B vaccination, colorectal cancer screening, bone mass measurements, prostate cancer screening, diabetes self-management benefits, pelvic exams, and screening mammograms. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Medicare at a Crossroads, page 39-40

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 23, 2000
    Too many seniors have to choose between drugs and rent

    When Medicare was created, prescription drugs were not considered an essential part of American health care. Today, they are at the core of medical treatment. And yet, nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries go without prescription drug coverage. Older Americans who lack prescription drug coverage typically pay 15% more for drugs than insurers who can negotiate price discounts. At this time of great prosperity, it is unacceptable that so many seniors have to choose between medicine and food and rent. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Medicare at a Crossroads, page 28

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 23, 2000
    Allow 55-65 year olds to buy into Medicare

    Gore believes that many Americans between the ages of 55-65 - the fastest growing group of uninsured in the country and some of the most vulnerable to the vagaries of the private market - should be able to buy into Medicare. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Medicare at a Crossroads, page 36

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 23, 2000
    Modernize Medicare with choice, efficiency, competition

    Gore’s “Crossroads” plan for Modernizing Medicare:
    • Letting seniors make choices about their health coverage;
    • Making sure seniors can choose their own doctor;
    • Increasing price competition;
    • Cracking down on fraud;
    • Introducing new management techniques;
    • Protecting choice by increasing penalties for HMOs that cherry pick [choosing healthy patients over riskier patients]
    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Medicare at a Crossroads, page 6

    Al Gore on Education : Sep 8, 2000
    $36B for tuition after saving Medicare & Social Security

    Gore told an audience that he hoped to boost college attendance and graduation rates by making college tuition tax-deductible, giving tax credits and deductions for college savings and keeping interest rates low for student loans. The full tuition strategy could cost the government as much as $36 billion. Immediate preservation of the Social Security and Medicare programs would ensure that education stayed a viable government priority leading into the next decade and beyond. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: CNN.com

    Al Gore on Health Care : Sep 6, 2000
    $253B for Medicare prescriptions & subsidized premiums

    Medicare reform compared	Gore’s plan	Bush’s plan
    Premiums	Start at $25 per month, increasing to $44 by 2008.	Will be determined by individual private health insurance companies, with higher premiums for more extensive coverage.
    Projected Cost	$253 billion over 10 years	$158 billion over 10 years, of which $48 billion would go for immediate prescription aid by 2004.

    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Boston Globe, p. A8

    Al Gore on Tax Reform : Aug 31, 2000
    Yes, it’s your money-but it’s your programs too

    “The other side has placed its top priority on taking virtually all of this projected surplus and giving it all in the form of a giant tax cut, mainly to the wealthy,” Gore said. “And their theory is that’s going to be good for the country, and they say it’s your money. Well, it is your money. But it’s your Medicare, it’s your Social Security, it’s your environment, it’s your school system, it’s your country.” Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Kevin Sack & James Dao, NY Times

    Al Gore on Health Care : Aug 31, 2000
    1997 Medicare cuts went too far-put back $339B

    Gore renewed his call today for spending $339 billion over 10 years to add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program and to restore Medicare financing to teaching hospitals, nursing homes, rural hospitals, home health care aides, and rehabilitative services. Money for those programs was cut under the 1997 balanced budget act, and Gore said today that those reductions “went too far.” Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Kevin Sack & James Dao, NY Times

    Al Gore on Social Security : Aug 18, 2000
    Dedicate the budget surplus first to saving Social Security

    I will not go along with any proposal to strip one out of every six dollars from the Social Security trust fund and privatize the Social Security that you’re counting on. That’s Social Security minus. Our plan is Social Security plus. We will balance the budget every year, and dedicate the budget surplus first to saving Social Security. Putting both Social Security and Medicare in an iron-clad lock box where the politicians can’t touch them -- to me, that kind of common sense is a family value. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Speech to the 2000 Democratic National Convention

    Al Gore on Health Care : Jul 1, 2000
    Curb excess pharmaceutical profits made at consumer expense

    Gore cast himself as a longtime critic of what he said were the industry’s excessive prices and profits: “I don’t see myself as a basher of the pharmaceutical companies,” Gore said. “I see myself as opposing the excesses that have accompanied their enormous market power, excesses that have come at the expense of consumers.” With his heightened, anti-industry stand that consumers are “being ripped off” by drug makers, Gore is positioning himself as a champion of a far-reaching Medicare prescription drug benefit for senior citizens. He said the industry’s profits were out of line, and he favors policies that would, in effect, cut into profits and curb prices. For example, Gore said he supported a legislative amendment, requiring drug makers to agree to reasonable prices for treatments invented in collaboration with government scientists. He also supports requiring drug companies to pay a fee to the government for medicines developed with the help of government grants. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, NY Times

    Al Gore on Health Care : Jun 14, 2000
    Health Care Trust Fund to expand coverage

    Gore called for the creation of a Health Care Trust Fund to help move toward the day when every American has affordable health coverage. The trust fund would help expand access to affordable coverage to every child and millions of adults. Gore would allow Americans 55 to 65 to buy into Medicare, expand coverage to parents whose children are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance program, and provide tax credits for small businesses and individuals without job-based health care. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Press Release, “Medicare Lock Box”

    Al Gore on Tax Reform : Jun 7, 2000
    Help caregivers with tax reform, nursing home alternatives

    Gore called for giving families with long-term care needs and their caregivers a $3,000 tax credit and reforms making it easier for Medicaid to cover care at home and in community settings in addition to nursing homes. The total cost of Gore’s new National Caregiving and Family Support Initiative is nearly $30 billion over ten years. Gore would:
    • Provide caregivers with support services, information, and respite. Under Gore’s plan, states would expand the availability of adult day care, respite care and home care services. At least 80% of Gore’s Initiative would be set aside for adult day care, home care coordination and other respite services.
    • Make tax credit available to Americans with long-term care needs -- and friends and family who care for them.
    • Make it easier to provide care at home, in the community.
    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Press Release, “National Caregiving Initiative”

    Al Gore on Health Care : Jun 6, 2000
    $30B over 10 years to help families with elder care

    Gore called for giving families with long-term care needs and their caregivers a $3,000 tax credit and reforms making it easier for Medicaid to cover care at home and in community settings in addition to nursing homes. The total cost of Gore’s new National Caregiving and Family Support Initiative is nearly $30 billion over ten years. “By making elder-care more affordable, we can strengthen our families across their generations, and honor the parents who did so much to make us what we are today.” Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Press Release, “Meet Long-Term Care Needs”

    Al Gore on Social Security : May 10, 2000
    Ensure health care & retirement security for aging veterans

    Gore highlighted his record of fighting for veterans and his plans for saving Social Security and strengthening Medicare to ensure health care and retirement security for aging veterans. “We have a responsibility to each and every one of our veterans,” Gore said. “America must do more for those who have risked everything to keep us free. I will fight for an unshakeable national commitment to our veterans.”

    Noting the number of Social Security enrollees is expected to double over the next 30 years, Gore highlighted his plan for saving Social Security. Gore’s balanced budget plan uses the entire Social Security surplus, $2.2 trillion over ten years, to improve Social Security and pay down the debt -- and dedicates the billions of dollars in interest saved from debt reduction to shore up the Social Security Trust Fund until at least 2050. Gore would strengthen prescription drug coverage for military retirees, and provide a comprehensive prescription drug plan for all seniors.

    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Press Release in Jacksonville, Ark.

    Al Gore on Health Care : Mar 1, 2000
    $300B over 15 years to keep Medicare solvent

    I am deeply committed to keeping Medicare strong for the future. When I became vice president in 1993, the Medicare trust fund was scheduled to run out in 1999. We took steps to keep it strong until 2015. However, given the fact that the number of people on Medicare is scheduled to double over the next few decades, Medicare will need additional resources to keep the trust fund strong for the future. That is why I have proposed devoting nearly $300 billion of the projected budget surplus over the next 15 years to keep Medicare solvent for at least the next quarter century. I also believe we should strengthen Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for their medicines. My plan has no deductible, and would eliminate cost-sharing and premiums for those living on low incomes. And it would provide additional support for those encountering catastrophic drug costs. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Associated Press, in Brockton (MA) Enterprise, p. B6

    John McCain on Tax Reform : Feb 27, 2000
    “Balanced approach”, and starts a flat tax system

    McCain’s pitch is that his tax cut plan is modest enough in size that it leaves plenty of money from the surplus tax revenues to deal with other needs. By expanding the 15% bracket to cover millions of additional taxpayers, he says, his plan amounts to a start on creating a system of flatter tax rates.

    “I want a balanced approach,” McCain says. “I put a whole lot of money into Social Security, Medicaid, and paying down the debt [and less] money into tax cuts.”

    Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: New York Times, p. 22

    Al Gore on Tax Reform : Feb 21, 2000
    Save Social Security, Medicare, and address debt before cuts

    Q: Why won’t the candidates just keep the tax rates the same & pay off the national debt?
    A: I think this risky tax scheme is reckless & would be very harmful to our country, because what we need to do instead is to use the surplus to safeguard Social Security first and foremost. Secondly we need to put money from the surplus into the Medicare program to strengthen it before the retirement of the baby boom generation. Then we need to pay down the national debt because that keeps interest rates low. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Democrat debate in Harlem, NYC

    Al Gore on Abortion : Jan 26, 2000
    Voted against Medicare-funded abortions; but now supports it

    BRADLEY [to Gore]: Is consistency on fundamental issues of principle relevant? I think they are. In Congress you had an 84% right-to-life voting record. This is an issue that requires somebody to know where they stand.
    I respect people who have a different view than I do. I respect your position that you had. People can evolve. But you campaign shouldn’t go around saying that you’ve always been for a woman’s right to choose because the record shows you have not.

    GORE: We basically agree, we have exactly the same position. So if you want to manufacturer a distinction, O.K. I favor woman’s right to choose regardless of the woman’s income. I have always supported a woman’s right to choose. And I support it today.

    BRADLEY: Al, that’s not true. You voted the other way.

    GORE: The exceptions to the general rule that Medicaid should provide funding for abortions constituted virtually the only votes in the House of Representatives during [my years there]. And I wrestled with [those issues].

    Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: (X-ref from Bradley) Democrat Debate in Manchester NH

    Tommy Thompson on Health Care : Jan 26, 2000
    Supports prescription drug savings plan for poor seniors

    I am proposing a Low-Income Prescription Drug Savings Plan that will save seniors $792 a year. Anyone over 65 with an income below 185 percent of poverty will be eligible. The program cuts the prices for the most expensive drugs covered by Medicaid, passes the savings to low-income seniors who pay for medications out of pocket, requires pharmacies to charge no more than the Medicaid reimbursement rate. Click for Tommy Thompson on other issues.   Source: State of the State speech

    John McCain on Social Security : Jan 26, 2000
    More believe in Elvis than in getting Social Security check

    In good times, when we have a surplus, we should give the middle income Americans a tax break. They need it. They pay as much as 40 percent of their income in taxes. But at the same time, people are telling me: save Social Security; put some money into Medicare and pay down that debt. And don’t put that burden on future generations of Americans. More young Americans believe Elvis is alive than believe that they’ll ever see a Social Security check. Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: GOP Debate in Manchester NH

    John McCain on Social Security : Jan 11, 2000
    Option to invest 20% of payroll taxes in private accounts

    McCain will present today his first comprehensive plan for apportioning the spoils of the nation’s current prosperity, calling for. a program to shore up Social Security through the establishment of individual retirement accounts. McCain also specifically allocates money to help Medicare, which like Social Security faces a financial shortfall as the population ages. He calls for workers to have the option of investing at least 20% of their Social Security payroll taxes in private accounts. Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: New York Times, p. A21

    John McCain on Health Care : Dec 13, 1999
    Matching funds for seniors citizens’ prescription drugs

    We’re asking senior citizens now to make a choice between their health and their income. They make too much money to be on Medicare and not enough to pay for their prescription drugs. We’ve got to devise a program that when a senior spends a certain part of their income on these prescription drugs that we’ll have a state and federal match for it. We can’t do that to our senior citizens. Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: Des Moines Iowa GOP Debate

    Al Gore on Health Care : Oct 28, 1999
    $146B over 10 years to insure 90% of adults & 100% of kids

    Q: How do you plan to fund your health care plan? A: My health care plan provides coverage for almost 90% of the American people. It gives coverage to 100% of all children. The cost is $146 billion over ten years, and a prescription drug benefit is provided under Medicare for $118 billion over ten years. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Democrat Debate at Dartmouth College

    Hillary Clinton on Health Care : Sep 14, 1999
    Medicare should be strengthened today

    We must extent Medicare’s life by an additional decade and offer a prescription drug plan. We have the means to do it today. Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.   Source: Remarks in Great Neck, Long Island

    Al Gore on Principles & Values : Jul 3, 1999
    Practical Idealism: centrist on most issues

    Gore’s motto is “practical idealism,” and he is, broadly speaking, a centrist. Some important distinctions are that Gore is a meddler [in dealing with government reform]; Gore hedges his enthusiasm for free trade with conditions; and Gore has kept his powder dry on pledges against raising taxes. Gore is inclined to keep Medicare and Social Security solvent by spending budget surpluses on them. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: The Economist, p. 13

    Al Gore on Civil Rights : May 16, 1999
    End discrimination based on mental illnesses

    Gore has been a leader in [opposing] discrimination against people with disabilities in housing, schools, workplaces and public areas across the nation. [Gore has worked] to expand home- and community-based care, and to protect the crucial Medicaid guarantee for people with disabilities. Through Tipper’s leadership, the administration took landmark steps to end discrimination based on mental illnesses. Gore [supports] increasing accessibility through sound transportation and infrastructure policies Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/disabled.html 5/16/99

    Al Gore on Social Security : May 14, 1999
    Protect retirement plans while times are good

    Use good economic times to tackle tough, long-term economic problems-and that means meeting our promise to an aging society by saving Social Security first and protecting Medicare while we have the means and the will to do it. Al Gore has urged Congress to refrain from risky tax schemes, and instead pass a responsible Social Security and Medicare reform plan -- to ensure the dignity of seniors in retirement, while also raising the national savings rate. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/econ.html 5/14/99

    Newt Gingrich on Health Care : Jul 2, 1998
    Focus on prevention; would save $14B with diabetes

    Diabetes can be dramatically diminished as a threat to health by periodic testing & preventive education. The CDC estimates that if [diabetics] learn to monitor their blood sugar, control their diet, and generally take care of themselves, not only will their lives be immeasurably better, we will save $14 billion a year. The 1997 Medicare reforms include the first steps toward the kind of preventive health program for the nation's diabetics that will ultimately save both lives and money. Click for Newt Gingrich on other issues.   Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.200-201

    Newt Gingrich on Government Reform : Jul 2, 1998
    1995 government shutdown from GOP underestimating Clinton

    To underestimate a politician like Clinton is a serious error, and it is an error we committed in 1995-96. In November, we sent him a stopgap spending bill that froze Medicare premiums, and he vetoed it on the grounds that it would hurt seniors. We sent a new bill without the Medicare provision but with a statutory commitment to a balanced budget. He signed it, ending the first of two government shutdowns. The commitment was later ignored.

    We passed a bill funding the Department of the Interior, and he vetoed it, closing the national parks. Likewise, he vetoed bills covering the Departments of Health and Human Services, State, Justice, Labor, and Education, among others. We not only lost the battle over the legislation itself, but the far more important one for the public's understanding and approval of what we were trying to do. The second shutdown, with stretched for three weeks over the 1995 Christmas holidays, seared into the public's mind a deeply negative impression.

    Click for Newt Gingrich on other issues.   Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p. 56

    Barack Obama on Immigration : Jul 2, 1998
    Extend welfare and Medicaid to immigrants

    Obama supports the folowing principles regarding immigration:
    • Continue to extend state-funded welfare benefits for legal immigrants.
    • Use state funds to continue some Medicaid coverage for legal immigrants.
    Click for Barack Obama on other issues.   Source: 1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test

    Barack Obama on Health Care : Jul 2, 1998
    Ensure access to basic care

    Principles that Obama supports on health care:
    • Provide tax incentives to small businesses who provide health care to their employees.
    • Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care, through managed care, insurance reforms, or state funded care where necessary.
    • Provide health care to uninsured children by expanding Medicaid.
    • Use state funds to continue some Medicaid coverage for legal immigrants.
    Click for Barack Obama on other issues.   Source: 1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test

    Dennis Kucinich on Principles & Values : Jul 2, 1996
    Long list of legislative priorities in Congress

    CONGRESS MUST: Protect Social Security. Preserve full Medicare and Medicaid benefits. Keep pension funds from being raided. Ensure economic security by building a high-skill, high-wage economy. Protect rights of workers to organize, to strike, to have a safe workplace. Provide more funds for education at all levels. Enact stiffer penalties for criminal use of guns. Protect our air, water and land. Provide competition between utility companies. Secure our country with a more efficient military defense. Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: 1996 Congressional National Political Awareness Test

    Tommy Thompson on Health Care : Aug 12, 1995
    Let states reform Medicaid; fight “one size fits all”

    [Under the 1981 Boren Amendment], states get sued if we do not pay enough [for healthcare]. It has cost Wisconsin $120 million. It has proven to be one of the most costly federal regulations on record. Imposing a “one size fits all” mandate ends up costing more.

    Medicaid costs have been increasing at an average of 20% a year, and they make up about 20% of al