The Democratic National Committee on Monday during the Democratic National Convention voted to assume a non-binding party platform that includes language about health tutelage, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, the platform in large component part follows recommendations from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) but moves "beyond his proposals in vocation for guaranteed health attention for all" (Woodward, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/26).
Meanwhile, Obama on Monday at a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa, aforesaid that he hopes to make the choice between himself and presumptive Republican presidential campaigner Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on health care and other issues "as clear as possible." Obama criticized the McCain health attention plan, which he said would leave "millions more than people without health indemnity," adding, "If you've got a pre-existing condition and you're not part of a pool, an employer-based plan, good luck" (Dorning, Chicago Tribune, 8/26).
Economic Priorities
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined the "trio big economic priorities" -- one of which would "be a government health care plan to cover millions without insurance" -- that Obama has said he would address at the start up of his presidency. According to the Journal, his "priorities would cost hundreds of billions of dollars a yr, and some of them might require a rigid increase in regulation."
His health aid plan is "daunting, conceptually and politically" and "could take many months to put together ... making it less potential to be the first gear priority," the Journal reports. Obama has said that he would finance the plan through a step-down in health care costs and the elimination of tax cuts for higher-income U.S. residents, but some "health care economists are dubious of the toll savings," according to the Journal (Davis/Farnam, Wall Street Journal , 8/26).
Sen. Kennedy
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) rung at the convention Monday night in "a uncommon public speech production appearance since he was diagnosed with a grievous form of brain cancer in May," and "vowed to continue his four-decade long fight to flesh out health guardianship coverage," the Salt Lake Tribune reports. "This is the causal agent of my life, new hope, that we volition break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American, north, south, east, west, youth, old, will have enough quality health care as a primal right," Kennedy said (Gehrke, _new">Salt Lake Tribune, 8/26).
Biden Supports Expansion of Federal Role in Health Insurance
The Journal "Health Blog" on Monday examined past positions that Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) has taken on health care (Rubenstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/25). Obama on Saturday selected Biden as his vice presidential candidate (Lawrence/Moore, USA Today, 8/25).
During the Democratic presidential primary, Biden advocated an expanding upon of the role of the federal government in health insurance. Biden proposed to provide all U.S. families to pay to participate in SCHIP, with premiums and copayments based on a sliding income scale. He also proposed to allow residents ages 55 and older to pay to participate in Medicare and allow uninsured residents to pay to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, with premiums and copayments based on a sliding income exfoliation. In summation, Biden proposed federal assistance for some patients whose medical costs exceed $50,000.
He also proposed to grant the federal government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for discounts on prescription drugs under the Medicare prescription drug benefit and seek to eliminate the so-called "doughnut hole" coverage gap in the program.
According to the Journal's "Health Blog," "Obama's wellness care proposals sound some similar notes," as he has called for "enlargement of eligibility for SCHIP, reimbursements of certain employer plans for some catastrophic costs and government talks on Medicare drug prices" ("Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/25).
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