Presidential candidates McCain and Kucinich take opposite stands on healthcare
Presidential contenders Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) took opposite stands on how to ease America's economic healthcare burden during recent sessions hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. McCain urged competition and transparency in a private market, while Kucinich promoted a federal single-payer system.
McCain said runaway healthcare costs outrank quality as a major problem and America's main focus should be to contain them. He also promoted competition and transparency. "People should know what the actual costs of pharmaceutical companies are," McCain said.
McCain's reform plan would include tax credits of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to allow for the purchase of healthcare insurance. "I don't think that there should be a mandate for every American to have health insurance," McCain said. "Yes, [there are] 47 million Americans that are without health insurance today, a very large portion of them are healthy young Americans who simply choose not to."
Government involvement spells less efficiency, McCain emphasized. "What we're talking about is an expansion of a government program that is failing," McCain said. "Medicare is failing. And so now we want to expand it and every American is now going to be able to join in a program that was originally designed for senior citizens and it's the same way with the SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It was the same way with Medicare Part D when we expanded to cover all seniors rather than those who need it."
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Kucinich is reportedly the only presidential candidate to promote a single-payer system, a plan he is already activating with 83 signers to his House bill, H.R. 676, to make the government a single payer for health insurance.
According to Kucinich, there are enormous savings to be gained by a single payer system. "Currently Medicare costs about 2 (percent) to 3 percent to handle the paperwork," he said. "When you look at the for-profit insurance companies, the cost of paperwork is about 15 to 30 percent."
Kucinich said America needs to decide if healthcare is a right or a privilege. "If it's a right, then it's appropriate for the government to have a role in facilitating that right," he said.
For Kucinich, there's no doubt that healthcare is a basic right and Americans should question whether the current for-profit system serves their best interest.
"What I'm talking about is a plan where everyone's covered and it covers everything, and the fact is, we're already paying for it, we're just not getting it," Kucinich said.
