Jackson Free Press

October 21, 2004

Of all the issues in this presidential campaign, health care is probably the most confusing. But a few facts are clear: 45 million Americans (including children) do not have health insurance, prescription drug costs are through the roof, and seniors aren't getting what they need. Both Bush and Kerry have extensive plans to reform most every aspect of health care in an attempt to provide more coverage to more Americans.

President Bush's first plan, if re-elected, is to "Cover the Kids," which will include a nationwide campaign. Many states, including Mississippi, are participants in CHIP (Child Health Insurance Programs), which allows coverage for children, but numbers of applicants are not as high as the number eligible.

Bush has two plans to offer low-income families health insurance. The first would be to offer a tax credit for families to purchase insurance on their own. The other option would offer them a low-premium, high-deductible plan with an HSA (health savings account). Families would get a tax credit up to $1,000 for their HSA and up to $2,000 for their premium, with individuals receiving a credit up to $300 for their HSA and up to $700 for their premium. With these high-deductible plans, the money put in the savings account would theoretically cover the high deductible. These plans are best for healthy individuals and families.

He also hopes health insurance can be made more affordable by allowing people to shop across state lines, but this may also see problems since, currently, some hospitals will not even accept health insurance from providers within their own state.

His plan for seniors includes prescription discount cards and offering more services through Medicare, including more screenings, exams and chronic illness management. He also plans tax reductions and credits toward long-term care insurance and long-term caregivers, respectively.
Another of Bush's ideas is to expand medical clinic facilities to those in rural and urban areas. He also hopes cut down health care costs by creating a universal system for health care records to eliminate some administrative work and by promoting more tort reform.

Kerry hopes to extend state-based programs to include every child, as well as over half of the 45 million uninsured. He also wants to offer Americans the same plan Congress gets, which could provide more options than their current plan, at a more affordable rate. Tax cuts based on income and age are also options in providing better, cheaper health care to Americans.

One of his more extensive plans focuses on prescription drugs. Kerry plans to allow for the importation of prescription drugs, allow generic drug companies to compete avidly, and require more effort on the part of the government and pharmaceutical companies to reduce and negotiate costs. This prescription plan, as well as his Social Security boosts, would hopefully alleviate costs for seniors.

Kerry also wants to implement what he calls a "real Patient's Bill of Rights," which would include allowing patients easier access to specialists and emergency care and more choices for their physicians.

Tort reform is not one of Kerry's means of reducing the already high costs. Instead of turning to damage caps, Kerry will go after irresponsible lawyers, implementing a "three strikes" plan concerning frivolous lawsuits; after the third, the lawyer will be barred from filing another suit for 10 years. Before a malpractice suit could even be filed, though, extensive research would have to be done to see if a suit was warranted. But, similar to Bush, his stance relies on implementing more technology in the medical world to help reduce costs.

For both candidates, health care will be a huge issue and, most likely, will continue to be expensive programs that challenge their abilities to balance the budget. But neither candidate has offered a single-payer or Canadian-style program, and some critics say neither will do enough to solve what may be a health-care crisis in this country.