Wives Of Presidential Candidates Discuss Health Care At Cancer Summit In New Hampshire

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Public Health
Article Date: 08 Nov 2007 - 7:00 PST

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Judith Giuliani, the wife of presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), and Elizabeth Kucinich, the wife of presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), on Tuesday discussed health care issues at a breast cancer research summit in Lebanon, N.H., the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (Ramer, AP/Long Island Newsday, 11/6).

During the summit, sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and held at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Judith Giuliani discussed the experience that her husband had with prostate cancer (Campanile, New York Post, 11/7). In addition, she discussed his efforts as mayor to provide breast cancer screenings at no cost and establish a $12 million, 20-year cancer study that involves 300,000 city residents. She said, "I can assure you, when Rudy is president, you will have two allies in the White House. This will be a priority to us."

Elizabeth Kucinich discussed the single-payer health insurance system proposed by her husband and compared the current system in the U.S. with the system in Britain, her home nation. She said, "We really have an affordable health care system, and I don't see why America is afflicted with a system where we have insurance companies who are in business to make money, not provide health care" (AP/Long Island Newsday, 11/6).

Obama Discusses Health Care Reform in Iowa
Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Tuesday at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said that he would seek to limit the influence of lobbyists as part of an effort to implement health care reform, the AP/Denver Post reports.

Obama said, "We've been talking about the problem of health care for decades through both Republican and Democratic administrations. If we think we can change health care without changing our politics, we're fooling ourselves." He added, "We need somebody who has some impatience, somebody who is impatient with the problems that have festered for so long." Obama has promised to refuse all campaign contributions from lobbyists (Glover, AP/Denver Post, 11/7).

Edwards Challenges Clinton on Health Care in Iowa
The New York Times on Tuesday examined how presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) at recent campaign events in Iowa has "heaped a steady barrage of criticism" on presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), "challenging her positions" on health care and other issues. During campaign events, Edwards has said that Clinton would not have the ability to implement health care reform because she has accepted campaign contributions from lobbyists. "I keep getting asked, 'Is she corrupt?'" Edwards said, adding, "I don't believe that, but I do believe that she's part of a system that's corrupt."

In addition to his criticism of Clinton, as part of an effort to appeal to Iowa voters "infuriated by Washington," Edwards at campaign events "threatens to take away health insurance for members of Congress if they do not overhaul the system by July 2009, six months after he would take office," the Times reports. Edwards said, "The goal of this is not to take away their health care," adding, "You've got to ratchet the pressure on them somehow. And I think this ratchets up the pressure" (Zeleny, New York Times, 11/6).

Poll
A majority of voters in the first four states to hold presidential caucuses and primaries believe that candidates should focus on health care issues over other concerns, according to a recent poll conducted for the American Hospital Association, CQ HealthBeat reports. The poll -- conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner -- included responses from 600 likely general election voters and 400 people from each party likely to participate in primaries or caucuses who reside in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Twenty-six percent of Republican caucus/primary voters, 55% of Democratic caucus/primary voters and 40% of general election voters cited health care as the most important issue in the election, eclipsing other issues such as Iraq, immigration and the economy.

According to the poll, 87% of general election voters support a universal health insurance system funded by the federal government, employers and individuals. However, a plurality of general election voters believe that the next president should focus on efforts to make health care more efficient and affordable before efforts to expand health insurance to all U.S. residents, the poll found (Bartolf, CQ HealthBeat, 11/6).

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