ABC News Survey Examines Presidential Candidates' Approaches To Health Care Reform

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail;  Public Health
Article Date: 13 Dec 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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In the second part of a series on health care in the 2008 presidential election, ABC's "World News" on Tuesday examined results of an ABC News survey of presidential candidates' positions on health care-related issues. The segment included a discussion with Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation; Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund; and Gail Wilensky, a senior fellow at Project HOPE.

Six Democratic and two Republican candidates responded to the survey, which included questions on five issues:

• Coverage for the uninsured;
  
  
• Cost control;
  
  
• Quality control;
  
  
• Personal choice and responsibility; and
  
  
• Electronic health records.
  

The survey found that Democratic candidates are "committed to universal coverage," with a large role for the government and employers. Democrats' plans would cost between $60 billion and $110 billion annually, according to "World News." Republican candidates responding to the survey oppose government mandates requiring health insurance and support tax credits and personal health savings accounts to allow individuals to purchase policies.

In addition, Democratic candidates said they support controlling costs and improving quality through federal standards. Republican candidates said free-market competition between insurance companies would lead to improvements in cost and quality. Candidates from both parties support the use of EHRs to control costs and reduce medical errors, the survey found.

Davis said the Democrats' plans would cover 40 million to 45 million U.S. residents, while the Republican plans would cover 10 million to 15 million residents. Altman said that no single plan would satisfy both Democrats and Republicans and that a combination approach would be necessary to implement health care reform. Wilensky said health care reform under the next president ultimately would depend on Congress and the president's willingness to reach out to lawmakers to develop a bipartisan agreement (Johnson, "World News," ABC, 12/11).

Video of the segment is available online.

Reprinted with kind 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.