Betting on Health Care

HM2VikingRN, RN · Apr 5, 2007

the seven democratic contenders who appeared before the crowd of 1,000 union activists and students at the university of nevada, las vegas, all vowed to provide affordable universal coverage if elected, but only former north carolina senator john edwards presented a plan with any significant details. "one of the reasons that i want to be president of the united states is to make sure that every woman and every person in america gets the same kind of things that we have," edwards said, referring to the recent announcement that his wife, elizabeth, will be in cancer treatment for the rest of her life.

seiu has been vigorously promoting a recent poll it commissioned, which showed vast majorities of democrats and republicans listing healthcare reform as their top domestic priority, as well as supporting "fundamental" rather than "piecemeal" solutions. earlier this year stern recast the healthcare debate when he set up a reform alliance not only with another union but also with the ceos of wal-mart, intel and at&t. "employer-based healthcare is dead," said stern. "it's a relic of the industrial era." stern argues that american business can no longer compete globally if it must foot the bill for healthcare, making this a prime time to enlist corporate support for universal coverage.
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john podesta, former clinton white house chief of staff and now head of the center for american progress, a co-sponsor of the vegas forum, said that achieving healthcare reform is no longer just a "moral issue" but an "economic issue" as well.
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edwards's detailed plan came the closest to overlapping the reform vision coming from the seiu. first unveiled earlier this year, the proposal calls for an expansion of both public and private health plans, asks employers either to provide healthcare or pay into a fund that does, requires individuals to buy insurance and offers government subsidies for families with incomes of up to $80,000 who can't afford it. this sort of private/public mix is emerging among some progressives as the most logical, and most politically doable, step short of a government-underwritten single-payer system. "single-payer is of course our gold standard," said one seiu political organizer. "
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the state's seiu has praised all of the proposals but has yet to endorse any. the california nurses association has put its weight behind a single-payer proposal by state senator sheila kuehl.

real proposals are bubbling on the horizon. while i personally believe that single payer is the best long term option senator edwards plan does achieve the goal of universality of coverage. senator clinton proposed a no preexisting condition exclusion and senator obama said its time to get it done.