I went to Washington DC last weekend and attended a national conference on our nations economic state and what we, as citizens and youth, can do to improve it. The topic of one of the panel discussions I attended was universal healthcare and how this would effect us. However, the panelists had a strong democratic bias and I wanted to know the truth – aside from any political affiliations, including my own.
It’s first important to understand what Universal Healthcare is and if it is something that would be good for our country.
“Health care coverage which is extended to all citizens, and sometimes permanent residents, of a governmental region. Universal health care programs vary widely in their structure and funding mechanisms, particularly the degree to which they are publicly funded. Typically, most health care costs are met by the population via compulsory health insurance or taxation, or a combination of both.”
Now that we have a baseline for what Universal healthcare is it’s important to hear what the experts have to say on the matter. At a panel discussion on March 14, 2008 the topic was “Where do the Presidential candidates stand on promoting a high-performance health system?” Sara Collins, Vice President of the Commonwealth Fund, in charge of the future of health insurance at the company spoke on behalf of Hillary Clinton. She says,
“According to the Institute of Medicine, health insurance coverage is the most important determinant of access to care because so many people are uninsured or underinsured access to care is highly unequal. Poor access to care is linked to poor quality care. People who lack health insurance are much less likely to have a regular source of care to receive preventive services and to be able to manage their chronic health conditions. They have both poor health status and shorter life expectancies.”
Raissa Downs is with the policy and lobbying firm of Tarplin, Downs and Young spoke on behalf of John McCain, as she says,
“He [McCain] has also argued very vehemently that the promise of fixing the health care system made by anybody, Republican or Democrat, is not a real promise, again, without really fundamentally addressing some of those cost issues that affect both the private sector and the public programs.”
Katherine Hayes is the Vice President for health policy at Jennings Policy Strategies and spoke on behalf of Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s plan is similar to Obama’s in that most American’s would receive healthcare.
“Hers [Clinton's] is a premium affordability tax credit which limits premium costs to a percentage of family income as opposed to having a flat tax credit based on family income. And then finally Senator Clinton’s proposal has a small business tax credit which helps small employers afford coverage for their workers.”
Well, based on this panel discussion this is a barebone look at the candidates and healthcare. Decide for yourself if you think higher taxes is worth free health care. There are no answers on what’s the right thing to do, which is why America is so divided, when the Constitution declares us as united… we failed at that with he whole party system.
