Elizabeth Edwards Says Clinton Plan Would Be 'More Successful' In Achieving Universal Coverage

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 11 Apr 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), on Wednesday said she prefers the health care plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), the AP/Winston-Salem Journal reports. Edwards, in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," said, "I do think that in order to ensure that we have universal coverage, we need to say that everybody has to join, so for that reason, the mandates that Sen. Clinton is talking about I think will actually be more successful in achieving the goal" (AP/Winston-Salem Journal, 4/10).

Edwards said that she and her husband had discussions with Clinton and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) about issues related to health care and "where there are differences" in their proposals (Phillips, New York Times, 4/10). Clinton's proposal would require all U.S. residents to obtain health coverage; Obama has proposed a health insurance mandate for children. Edwards said, "I think they both have the same goals," but "I just have more confidence in Sen. Clinton's policy than Sen. Obama's on this particular issue."

Edwards will be joining the Center for American Progress as a senior fellow focusing on health care. She also will write a blog about health policy issues on the group's Web site and host policy forums (AP/Winston-Salem Journal, 4/10).

Video of the interview with Edwards and expanded ABC News coverage are available online (Roberts, "Good Morning America," ABC, 4/9).

Opinion Pieces

• Maggie Gallagher, New York Post: "Government-financed health care means government rationing of health care, in a system where the prestige, status, freedom and pay of doctors who care for patients plummets over time," Post columnist Gallagher writes, adding, but "don't expect Hillary or Barack to tell that truth any time soon." Gallagher discusses several "recent stories" that she says "highlight the potential cost for all of us in putting health care into the hands of government bureaucrats," including an incident in Great Britain where a woman was unable to obtain a breast cancer drug while receiving government-sponsored health care, and costs and access-to-care issues related to the Massachusetts health insurance law (Gallagher, New York Post, 4/10).
  
  
• Teresa Heinz Kerry, Philadelphia Inquirer: "Obama's universal health care plan will first cover every child in America and make sure every family can receive the same kind of affordable, high-quality health insurance he and I both have -- the great health care that members of Congress give themselves and their families" through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, Kerry, chair of the Heinz Family Philanthropies, writes in an Inquirer opinion piece. She adds that Obama will "simplify the paperwork throughout the health care system" and "ensure that no family can be turned down" for coverage, regardless of pre-existing conditions. Kerry concludes, "How appropriate it would be if the state that gave us our Constitution and the city that houses the Liberty Bell were to choose a brilliant young leader and propel America -- in words Obama chose in his epochal speech last month -- 'toward a more perfect union'" (Kerry, Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/10).
  
  
• Donna Gentile O'Donnell, Philadelphia Inquirer: Clinton's "position on health care is clear: We must spend out national resources -- time, talent and treasury -- on insuring all Americans," O'Donnell -- the managing director of the Eastern Technology Council, a Democratic strategist and political commentator for NBC -- writes in an Inquirer opinion piece. She adds that on the issue of health care, the nation "can and must and will do better, if she is president" (O'Donnell, Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/10).

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