Republican Presidential Candidate Giuliani Discusses Health Care At Events In N.H., S.C.

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 21 Aug 2007 - 13:00 PST

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Presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) on Thursday during a one-hour forum in Derry, N.H., focused on health care and promoted his recent proposal, the AP/Winston-Salem Journal reports. Giuliani said that U.S. residents should purchase health insurance as they purchase car or home insurance, with different deductibles and levels of coverage for individual policies (AP/Winston-Salem Journal, 8/17).

Under his proposal, families could receive tax deductions of as much as $15,000 to purchase individual health insurance, and individuals could receive tax deductions of as much as $7,500 to purchase coverage. Families and individuals could place any excess funds in health savings accounts and use them to cover the cost of deductibles or other medical expenses (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/1).

On Tuesday, Giuliani discussed health care at an event in Columbia, S.C. He said that an increase in competition among health insurers prompted by his proposal would extend coverage to more U.S. residents than expansions of public programs.

In addition, Giuliani criticized proposals for universal health insurance supported by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and other Democratic presidential candidates. "What Hillary wants to do is not an American solution to the problem," he said, adding, "It's a solution that marches us -- and boy do they get angry about this, but sometimes the truth hurts -- it marches us right to socialized medicine" (Davenport, AP/Charleston Post and Courier, 8/15).

Breast Cancer Proposal Should Proceed
Former Wisconsin Gov. and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson (R) "barely made a blip in the presidential polls" before his withdrawal from the race earlier this week, but "his call to end breast cancer by 2015 deserves a long political life," a Boston Globe editorial states.

According to the editorial, Thompson proposed that the NIH budget double to $56 billion, with 15 $10 million grants awarded to facilities to conduct important research on breast cancer, and that a team of physicians, nurses, scientists and patients make recommendations on which studies to fund. Thompson sought to help "America to restore its status as a world leader through the power of its medical breakthroughs" and to "shift the country away from being the world's policeman" to "being the world's consulting physician," the editorial states.

The editorial recommends that other presidential candidates "heed Thompson's call" but revise the details of his proposal, as the elimination of breast cancer by 2015 "is unlikely given the medical complexities." The editorial concludes, "A president who recommits to the fight against cancer would also be recommitting the country to a larger fight to better the human lot" (Boston Globe, 8/17).

Related Broadcast Coverage
Fox News' "Your World With Neil Cavuto" on Thursday included a discussion with MTV News' Kurt Loder about the health care proposal of presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.). Video of the segment is available online ("Your World With Neil Cavuto," Fox News, 8/16).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.