Are the candidates really concerned?
The Political Pulpit
Object:
If there is one issue that confronts every American it is our health. We are dismayed to
read the statistics that Mark has quoted in his column. How can a nation that prides itself
in being first in everything discover that we are 37th by comparison to other countries in
health care?
In a presidential election year we are hearing a lot about health care. Candidates in both parties suggest that they are the only ones with a real solution and by the sound of their voices you may be concerned that they have little to add toward change and progress. It is sad that the lives of so many people are being sold out for others' personal income.
I thought it might be interesting to see what the candidates positions are on the subject of health care so I have asked permission from the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life to reprint the answers of four leading Republicans and four leading Democrats on the issue of health care.
We will alternate parties and their candidates for your discernment.
Republican -- Mike Huckabee
After losing more than 100 pounds in two years while he was governor of Arkansas, Huckabee focused on eliminating obesity and improving public health. Huckabee calls the American health care system "irreparably broken" and calls for more preventative care. He is against universal health insurance coverage and has said that the US needs a system "where there are incentives for healthy behavior and for management of one's health-care expenses." While governor, Huckabee created the ARKids First program to provide health insurance for many uninsured children.
Democrat -- Barack Obama
When he formally declared his run for the presidency, Obama said his goal was to implement universal health care, or government health insurance for all Americans, by 2012 or "the end of the first term of the next president." He has called the "belief in universal health care" one of the "core values" of the Democratic Party.
Republican -- W. Mitt Romney
Romney claims to support making health insurance more affordable through market reforms. As Massachusetts' governor, he implemented a major health care reform plan that required all citizens to enroll in Medicaid or purchase health insurance. The plan provides subsidies to help low-income residents buy private health insurance.
Democrat -- Hillary Clinton
Clinton has been a long-time supporter of universal health care that would provide government health insurance to all Americans. While first lady, she chaired an ultimately unsuccessful National Task Force for Health Care Reform. She has called universal coverage "a moral and health imperative" and says that she hopes to make health care "the No. 1 voting issue in the 2008 election." In the April 2007 Democratic debate, Clinton said that "we've got to control and decrease costs for everyone" and that the health care problem "is not just about the uninsured."
Republican -- John McCain
McCain and Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) proposed a national commission to study the nation's healthcare system and outline proposals for addressing spiraling costs. McCain has advocated making generic drugs more available to consumers and wants to ease restrictions on imported drugs to make prescriptions more affordable. He advocates placing caps on medical malpractice suits.
Democrat -- Bill Richardson
Richardson has said that if he were elected president and more Democrats were in Congress, he would enact universal health care coverage within the first year of his administration. To achieve this, he would offer tax credits for buying insurance and an option for 55- to 64-year-olds to buy coverage through Medicare. He would also "get out of Iraq" and redirect money from the military.
Republican -- Rudolph Giuliani
Giuliani has advocated expanding access to health insurance through "free market principles." He has criticized proposals for universal health care, saying that "socialization" is not the solution. As mayor, he implemented a program called HealthStat, which identified and enrolled uninsured children in health insurance programs.
Democrat -- John Edwards
Edwards' universal health care proposal would provide tax credits for low-income families, expand Medicare and federal health care for children, and create a federal health insurance agency that would eventually replace private health insurance. The plan would be funded through a roll-back of the Bush administration's tax cuts for families making more than $200,000 a year and through currently uncollected capital gains taxes.
Most employers are questioning their ability to pay for health insurance on their employees. The cost no longer can be factored in the price of the product and remain competitive in the world's free market. Where once employers paid 100% of the employee's health insurance, they now look at paying smaller and smaller percentages. The key to a certain automobile manufacturer's contract was the takeover by the union of the worker's health insurance. One day in the emergency ward at a hospital may cost thousands of dollars and the fear of a malpractice suit has the primary doctor sending his patient to a variety of specialists for tests that will cover him if something happens to the patient. Again, the cost to the patient is the spiraling insurance premium.
I wonder what we would say in response to Jesus when he compared us to the birds of the air. Jesus taught that we were more precious than birds and the foremost concern of a loving God. There was no time to worry about the warts, moles, and sniffling noses. As a matter of fact blindness, deafness, and other diseases were not the result of your sin but instead an even better reason for God to love you in your ignorance and to prepare a place where a new life would be without pain or disease.
But in our day, even the very old are considered candidates for improved health. Regardless of the cost there must be a specialist somewhere to take care of terminal cancer, advanced heart disease, lungs that no longer expand for breathing, and even bullet wounds to the head. There is no giving up; there is no trust that the new world will exceed what we have built for ourselves on earth. It is the politician that is responsible for providing us with answers that allow better health and the providers with deeper pockets. Somehow this must be worked out.
Besides, our economy depends upon people driving bigger cars, building bigger and bigger houses, living the final 25 years of our lives like we were maharajas, and eating like there was enough good food for us to be satisfied every four hours without concern for the starving. If we have too much stress or arteries that are packed tighter than a bride's suitcase, there are pills to make us like new.
I am not sure what a politician -- a presidential candidate -- will bring to the table that will make our decision clear cut but if you hear of one that has a real answer to health care, please write us and you will be rewarded by giving pastors the option to quote you from their political pulpits.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons."
In a presidential election year we are hearing a lot about health care. Candidates in both parties suggest that they are the only ones with a real solution and by the sound of their voices you may be concerned that they have little to add toward change and progress. It is sad that the lives of so many people are being sold out for others' personal income.
I thought it might be interesting to see what the candidates positions are on the subject of health care so I have asked permission from the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life to reprint the answers of four leading Republicans and four leading Democrats on the issue of health care.
We will alternate parties and their candidates for your discernment.
Republican -- Mike Huckabee
After losing more than 100 pounds in two years while he was governor of Arkansas, Huckabee focused on eliminating obesity and improving public health. Huckabee calls the American health care system "irreparably broken" and calls for more preventative care. He is against universal health insurance coverage and has said that the US needs a system "where there are incentives for healthy behavior and for management of one's health-care expenses." While governor, Huckabee created the ARKids First program to provide health insurance for many uninsured children.
Democrat -- Barack Obama
When he formally declared his run for the presidency, Obama said his goal was to implement universal health care, or government health insurance for all Americans, by 2012 or "the end of the first term of the next president." He has called the "belief in universal health care" one of the "core values" of the Democratic Party.
Republican -- W. Mitt Romney
Romney claims to support making health insurance more affordable through market reforms. As Massachusetts' governor, he implemented a major health care reform plan that required all citizens to enroll in Medicaid or purchase health insurance. The plan provides subsidies to help low-income residents buy private health insurance.
Democrat -- Hillary Clinton
Clinton has been a long-time supporter of universal health care that would provide government health insurance to all Americans. While first lady, she chaired an ultimately unsuccessful National Task Force for Health Care Reform. She has called universal coverage "a moral and health imperative" and says that she hopes to make health care "the No. 1 voting issue in the 2008 election." In the April 2007 Democratic debate, Clinton said that "we've got to control and decrease costs for everyone" and that the health care problem "is not just about the uninsured."
Republican -- John McCain
McCain and Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) proposed a national commission to study the nation's healthcare system and outline proposals for addressing spiraling costs. McCain has advocated making generic drugs more available to consumers and wants to ease restrictions on imported drugs to make prescriptions more affordable. He advocates placing caps on medical malpractice suits.
Democrat -- Bill Richardson
Richardson has said that if he were elected president and more Democrats were in Congress, he would enact universal health care coverage within the first year of his administration. To achieve this, he would offer tax credits for buying insurance and an option for 55- to 64-year-olds to buy coverage through Medicare. He would also "get out of Iraq" and redirect money from the military.
Republican -- Rudolph Giuliani
Giuliani has advocated expanding access to health insurance through "free market principles." He has criticized proposals for universal health care, saying that "socialization" is not the solution. As mayor, he implemented a program called HealthStat, which identified and enrolled uninsured children in health insurance programs.
Democrat -- John Edwards
Edwards' universal health care proposal would provide tax credits for low-income families, expand Medicare and federal health care for children, and create a federal health insurance agency that would eventually replace private health insurance. The plan would be funded through a roll-back of the Bush administration's tax cuts for families making more than $200,000 a year and through currently uncollected capital gains taxes.
Most employers are questioning their ability to pay for health insurance on their employees. The cost no longer can be factored in the price of the product and remain competitive in the world's free market. Where once employers paid 100% of the employee's health insurance, they now look at paying smaller and smaller percentages. The key to a certain automobile manufacturer's contract was the takeover by the union of the worker's health insurance. One day in the emergency ward at a hospital may cost thousands of dollars and the fear of a malpractice suit has the primary doctor sending his patient to a variety of specialists for tests that will cover him if something happens to the patient. Again, the cost to the patient is the spiraling insurance premium.
I wonder what we would say in response to Jesus when he compared us to the birds of the air. Jesus taught that we were more precious than birds and the foremost concern of a loving God. There was no time to worry about the warts, moles, and sniffling noses. As a matter of fact blindness, deafness, and other diseases were not the result of your sin but instead an even better reason for God to love you in your ignorance and to prepare a place where a new life would be without pain or disease.
But in our day, even the very old are considered candidates for improved health. Regardless of the cost there must be a specialist somewhere to take care of terminal cancer, advanced heart disease, lungs that no longer expand for breathing, and even bullet wounds to the head. There is no giving up; there is no trust that the new world will exceed what we have built for ourselves on earth. It is the politician that is responsible for providing us with answers that allow better health and the providers with deeper pockets. Somehow this must be worked out.
Besides, our economy depends upon people driving bigger cars, building bigger and bigger houses, living the final 25 years of our lives like we were maharajas, and eating like there was enough good food for us to be satisfied every four hours without concern for the starving. If we have too much stress or arteries that are packed tighter than a bride's suitcase, there are pills to make us like new.
I am not sure what a politician -- a presidential candidate -- will bring to the table that will make our decision clear cut but if you hear of one that has a real answer to health care, please write us and you will be rewarded by giving pastors the option to quote you from their political pulpits.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons."
