Democratic National Committee Approves Platform With Health Care Language; Obama Campaigns In Iowa

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 27 Aug 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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The Democratic National Committee on Monday during the Democratic National Convention voted to adopt a non-binding party platform that includes language about health care, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, the platform in large part follows recommendations from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) but moves "beyond his proposals in calling for guaranteed health care for all" (Woodward, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/26).

Meanwhile, Obama on Monday at a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa, said that he hopes to make the choice between himself and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on health care and other issues "as clear as possible." Obama criticized the McCain health care plan, which he said would leave "millions more people without health insurance," adding, "If you've got a pre-existing condition and you're not part of a pool, an employer-based plan, good luck" (Dorning, Chicago Tribune, 8/26).

Economic Priorities
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined the "three big economic priorities" -- one of which would "be a government health care plan to cover millions without insurance" -- that Obama has said he would address at the start of his presidency. According to the Journal, his "priorities would cost hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and some of them might require a stiff increase in regulation."

His health care plan is "daunting, conceptually and politically" and "could take many months to put together ... making it less likely to be the first priority," the Journal reports. Obama has said that he would finance the plan through a reduction in health care costs and the elimination of tax cuts for higher-income U.S. residents, but some "health care economists are dubious of the cost savings," according to the Journal (Davis/Farnam, Wall Street Journal , 8/26).

Sen. Kennedy
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) spoke at the convention Monday night in "a rare public speaking appearance since he was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of brain cancer in May," and "vowed to continue his four-decade long fight to expand health care coverage," the Salt Lake Tribune reports. "This is the cause of my life, new hope, that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American, north, south, east, west, young, old, will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right," Kennedy said (Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune, 8/26).

Biden Supports Expansion of Federal Role in Health Insurance
The Journal "Health Blog" on Monday examined past positions that Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) has taken on health care (Rubenstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/25). Obama on Saturday selected Biden as his vice presidential candidate (Lawrence/Moore, USA Today, 8/25).

During the Democratic presidential primary, Biden advocated an expansion of the role of the federal government in health insurance. Biden proposed to allow all U.S. families to pay to participate in SCHIP, with premiums and copayments based on a sliding income scale. He also proposed to allow residents ages 55 and older to pay to participate in Medicare and allow uninsured residents to pay to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, with premiums and copayments based on a sliding income scale. In addition, Biden proposed federal assistance for some patients whose medical costs exceed $50,000.

He also proposed to allow the federal government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for discounts on prescription drugs under the Medicare prescription drug benefit and seek to eliminate the so-called "doughnut hole" coverage gap in the program.

According to the Journal's "Health Blog," "Obama's health care proposals sound some similar notes," as he has called for "expansion of eligibility for SCHIP, reimbursements of certain employer plans for some catastrophic costs and government negotiation on Medicare drug prices" ("Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/25).

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