According to Hillary Clinton, the USA is prepared for universal health care, and she has the know-how and vision to make it a reality. This is not the first time H Clinton has struggle to get universal healthcare for America – she tried in vain fourteen years ago when her husband was president. She introduced a proposal to provide full coverage for every American – but was defeated. Hillary Clinton believes that her experience will help her get the job done better than anyone else.
Ever since H Clinton’s first attempt fourteen years ago, universal health care has not been at the tip of every presidential candidate’s tongue. This has now changed. Any self-respecting presidential candidate who wants a good chance at being considered for the post this time round is making sure health care is kept well at the forefront of his/her speeches.
According to the Hillary Clinton web site, roughly 45 million people in the USA have no health cover at all, among them 9 million kids. Add to this figure the number of underinsured, plus those who have insurance but cannot get help for specific drugs or surgery they desperately need.
According to H Clinton, the fact that health care premiums have almost doubled in the last six years is cause for great concern.
According to H Clinton, she has the experience to take on the insurance companies, work with Congress members across both parties. She believes she has what it takes to get Americans the health care they need.
H Clinton says she helped create SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program), which provides coverage for more than 6 million low-income children, as well as the Vaccines for Children program.
There is a clear difference between what the Republicans and Democrats are proposing. The Democrats would like to see government take over the job of ensuring everybody’s good health, while the Republicans are pushing so that individuals have more choice and better incentives and subsidies to deal with their own healthcare.
This time round all candidates are trying to make sure they do not walk into the black hole H Clinton did 14 years ago. On Monday (today) H Clinton comes out with her own plan. She says “we’re going to get it done this time.”
The Republicans say Democrat proposals will push America into a maze of bureaucracy and inefficient socialized medicine; they propose tax breaks to widen coverage and make it more affordable. The Republicans are telling the voters that their choices are stark – either back a system that improves individual choice, or enter the unknown world of Hillary-care or Barack Obama care.
These scare tactics do not seem to be having such a dent in the electorate’s view of things. Health coverage ranks high among voters’ concerns – in fact, a recent poll indicated that the majority of people might welcome higher taxes if that meant really universal health care.
It will be interesting to see how candidates develop their arguments from now until the elections. In virtually every other aspect of America’s economy, it has been a pioneer and often an example for other countries to emulate. This is not the case with health care – when compared to what is available in Canada, the European Union and Japan, the USA has fallen far behind. Occasionally, the spot light is placed on the shortcomings of health care services in other developed countries, such as wait times for operations. However, as each country deals with these problems in its own way and wait times get shorter, America’s health care system spins further and further out of the global periphery.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist