Both presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) have announced "elaborate -- just very different -- health care plans," the Chicago Tribune reports.
In late weeks, Obama and McCain have focused on early issues -- such as the warfare in Iraq, the thriftiness, gasoline prices and national security -- and some polls get found that health upkeep is "languishing far slow" other issues as top concerns for voters, according to the Tribune. While health fear appeared as "daily fodder in the debate all over which candidate would do a better job as president" during the Democratic presidential primary campaign, the Tribune reports that the "silence is deafening" on the way out during the general election campaign.
Reaction
Obama spokesperson Bill Burton said, "The issue of health attention may be getting less attention than it deserves from the media, just it's still a crown concern for voters and among the top issues that Sen. Obama talks about on the campaign trail."
Tucker Bounds, a spokesperson for McCain, acknowledges that, although health tending issues get not received a large amount of attention in the ecumenical election cause, they "could hardly escape the conversation each campaigner will hold with voters" because of the "double-dyed contrast" in their proposals.
Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, aforementioned, "For a lot of people world Health Organization have health insurance, they are remunerative more for health care, but it may not show up as concretely as remunerative $70 to fill their gas tank."
According to Republican pollster Gary Ferguson, world Health Organization specializes in health tutelage, despite the lack of attention to health forethought, the government issue remains role of overall economic concerns.
Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that, although gas prices ar the "canary yellow in the coal mine" for economical concerns, "when you probe, when you ask people what's bothering you around the saving right now, in economic downturns -- problems paying for health care and health insurance really hulk large." He added, "After people's fixations paying for gas prices, problems paid for wellness care ar right at the peak with job issues."
In Congress, Democratic and Republican staffers have begun to fulfill in preparation for the consideration of health guardianship legislation following year, careless of which candidate becomes president. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, added that health care is an important issue in House races nationwide and that he expects Obama to speak the government issue next week during the Democratic National Convention in Denver (Zuckman, Chicago Tribune, 8/21).
Editorial Addresses Obama Comments on Single-Payer System
A recent program line by Obama that he would "'probably go ahead with a single-payer'" wellness care system if he was "'designing a system from scratch'" indicated his support for the "idea of a health care market -- or nonmarket -- alone run by the government," a Wall Street Journal editorial states. According to the editorial, most "liberals support single-payer, aka 'Medicare for All,' because it would carry off the net motive, which by their lights is the reason Americans are uninsured."
Obama "takes a more soften campaign line, though we suppose exactly about everything is 'moderate' compared to a add up government putsch," the editorial states. "Obama's health tutelage plan includes a taxpayer-funded insurance programme, much like Medicare simply open to everyone," and seeks to "displace current private insurance coverage and switch people to the default government pick," according to the editorial.
The editorial states, "What's new is Mr. Obama's sander political packaging." The editorial states, "With good rationality, critics often call this a back entrance route to a centrally planned health care bureaucratism," adding, "For all his lawyerly qualifications, Mr. Obama has basically admitted that his proposal is genuinely the front door" (Wall Street Journal, 8/21).
Broadcast Coverage
NBC's "Nightly News" on Wednesday included analysis from NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd on a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on the presidential election. Among other results, the poll found that 48% of voters believe Obama would address health care more efficaciously, compared with 27% world Health Organization believe McCain would address the emergence more in effect (Curry, "Nightly News," NBC, 8/20).
In addition, NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday reported on how both candidates this week discussed health care and other concerns for veterans during the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars convention (Horsley, "Morning Edition," NPR, 8/20).
Reprinted with kind permission from hypertext transfer protocol://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the integral Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, hunt the archives, or sign up for email deliverance at hypertext transfer protocol://www.kaisernetwork.
