May Edition |
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Articles: McCain’s Market-Based Approach Stark Contrast to Democrats
McCain’s Market-Based Approach Stark Contrast to DemocratsWhile the Democrats duke it out for delegates to seize the party’s nomination, John McCain is traveling the country, via the “Straight Talk Express,” to establish a general election reputation on policy. Last week, while giving a speech in Florida, he redefined his health care plan and addressed how he would handle it. “…The goal after all is to make the best care available to everyone,” McCain said on April 29th. “We want a system of health care in which everyone can afford and acquire the treatment and preventative care they need – and the peace of mind that comes, with knowing they are covered.” So how would McCain do it? Well, unlike both Democratic opponents, he steers clear of any reference to universal health care and reiterates how a market-based approach is the way to go. A few highlights from his plan include:
McCain’s Guaranteed Access Plan proposal (GAP), which would be a state-run program designed to insure high risk patients, would establish a nonprofit corporation to contract with insurers, join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. The GAP idea drew initial criticism from press outlets such as the Dallas Morning News and Newsweek. Newsweek author and blogger Andrew Romano said this: “McCain was so wary of crossing small-government conservatives with his "Guaranteed Access Plan" that he offered few specifics in the speech--"I will work with Congress, the governors, and industry to make sure that it is funded adequately," he said, mysteriously--and didn't mention it at all in a brand-new Iowa ad on the subject (below). Predictably, he chose to highlight his tax credits instead.” To read the platform for yourself, you can find McCain’s Call to Action on Health Care Reform at the end of this link. Extra: Senator McCain supports federal research on the causes and the role of environment in incidences of autism. McCain cosponsored the Combating Autism Act of 2006, and as recent as November 2007, called for Congressional hearings to discuss how Congress can increase public awareness and screening for autism, promote the use of evidence based intervention and create Centers of Excellence for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research and Epidemiology. TV Ad: Health Care Action
HAA No Laughing Matter: Could the Bipartisan Act be Balanced?The Healthy Americans Act (HAA), sponsored by Senators Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) would require all U.S. residents to obtain health coverage or face a penalty. It has drawn 12 Senate co-sponsors and, according to Bennett and Wyden, this plan could serve as the basis for a proposal by any of the three candidates, Republican or Democrat. According to a Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation (CBO/JCT) report released on Thursday, May 1, the HAA, while establishing a universal health care system, could be budget-neutral by 2014, and even generate a budget surplus in future years. In short, this means the plan would bring in as much revenue as it costs to implement. The proposal would eliminate the traditional employer-sponsored health care system and replace it with a system in which individuals would purchase private health coverage through state-run purchasing pools. The federal government would subsidize coverage for residents with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Employers initially would shift funds currently used to pay for coverage to wages, and gradually, employers would be required to pay the federal government a health insurance contribution. According to the CBO/JCT analysis, when the proposal would be fully implemented, in 2014, changes in the tax code related to health insurance and additional provisions would generate surpluses. The government would spend $1.3 trillion to $1.4 trillion each year in health insurance premiums, but the cost would be “approximately offset” by new revenues and savings, premiums from taxpayers, employer payments, tax changes, savings from folding Medicaid and SCHIP into the new system, and state payments into the new system.
Are You Drinking Drugs?You may remember the Associated Press (AP) story that broke on March 10, 2008 about the discovery of diluted pharmaceuticals in the U.S. water supply. “Prescription drugs found in drinking water across U.S.”
During a five month “inquiry” the AP traced pharmaceuticals, ranging from antibiotics to sex hormones, in the drinking water supplies of dozens of metropolitan areas. It didn’t take long for the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works to call witnesses from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Geological Survey, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and more for a hearing on April 15th. During the hearing, Senator and Chariman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), made poignant remarks about the EPA’s role to warn the public of this danger and handle “EPA has failed to require the needed testing to determine the effects of these chemicals at low levels. In 1996, Congress told EPA in the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Food Quality Protection Act to develop a program to identify and address chemicals that harm the natural balance of hormones in our body…Yet, EPA is now nearly 6 years behind the schedule…and (the) EPA still has not even established all of the tests needed to detect these chemicals, much less evaluated the chemicals using those tests.” Benjamin Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, responded that the U.S. has one of the safest drinking water supplies in the world. He went on to note that the amount of pharmaceuticals found in the water is the “equivalent of one aspirin sized pill in one hundred Olympic size swimming pools.” For a webcast of the hearing, to read the full testimonies or see a map of where pharmaceuticals were found in the AP study, click here. |
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it before the AP breaks a story. 
