It's about time Kerry takes Bush to task on this issue because for those not drinking the GOP Kool Aid, the problem is only getting worse. It's revolting how much corporate America has passed off this cost to its employees while the CEOs continue to rake in more and more money. I support some of the recent actions by the Bush administration to control costs with Medicare (which impact doctors getting rich from being pharmaceutical salespeople to their patients) but the problem is considerably larger than that.
Kerry needs to strike back at the silly "socialist" bullshit that the cons push and make this an easy to understand issue for Americans. (Is it socialist to build roads? Is it socialist to pay taxes for the military?) It's time Democratic leaders start fighting on this issue and frame the cons as the greedy people that they are. Do we want healthcare of more war profiteering from Cheney and Pioneer contributors? This is a fight that we can win.
It comes back to the economy again...it's not good and it's starting to look like it might go south again because of his tax cuts for the greedy and oil prices.If the Republican-controlled Congress enacted President Bush's entire health care agenda, as many as 10 million people who lack health insurance would be covered at a cost of $102 billion over the next decade, according to his campaign aides.
But when the Bush-Cheney team was asked to provide documentation, the hard
data fell far short of the claims, a gap supported by several independent analyses.
Since Bush took office, the number of Americans without health insurance has climbed by 4 million, to nearly 44 million. On its Web site and at news briefings, the Bush campaign says that through its actions overseeing Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, the administration has "expanded eligibility to more than 2.6 million people."
The statement gives the impression "they have extended coverage to 2.6 million more, and that is not really true," said Diane Rowland, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. "In reality, only 200,000 of them got coverage" because of Bush administration efforts.Total enrollment in the two government health programs did rise during Bush's tenure -- by about 7.5 million. But for the vast majority, coverage was required by law, not the result of any policy change.
"Part of the reason more people were covered is the economy got so bad that people lost income," Rowland said. "There were more low-income people under Bush than previously, so they became eligible for public programs."
