JAMA - Q: What is Kerry medical plan? A: Ensuring Access to Health Care

[TaleWgnDg]

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has asked both presidential candidates to answer the following question:

"How would you ensure access to health care for the citizens of the United States?"

John F. Kerry answered:

"Ensuring Access to Health Care
"The Kerry Plan

"John Kerry

"JAMA. 2004;292:2007-2009.

"Today, a family’s ability to ensure that all its members receive the quality health care they deserve is challenged like never before. The number of uninsured has increased by 5 million since 2000 to a record-high of 45 million. You witness this everyday as you care for patients. Together, we must reverse this trend. As a fair and just society, we need to grant access to those who lack coverage, and we must also ensure that those who already have coverage can continue to afford it in a time of rising health care costs.

"My health care plan does both. It expands coverage to all children and millions of low-income adults, and it reduces health premiums for families with existing coverage by approximately 10%, or up to $1000, through a premium rebate pool. The Kerry-Edwards plan also focuses on improving the quality of care delivered and expanding the use of health information technology to help cut costs and provides seed dollars to help clinicians pay the capital costs of both. Our plan addresses the seemingly intractable problem of medical malpractice and restores medical decision making to the most qualified decision makers—clinicians—through a real patients’ bill of rights."

(more at . . . )

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/292/16/2007
(as last visited Tuesday, October 26, 2004, 5:50 PM EDT)

(GWBush answer may be accessed by hyperlink at bottom on this url, above)

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For those who have questions about Kerry's healthcare plan or know of someone who does and it would mean a vote for Kerry, why not direct them to this JAMA website http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/292/16/2007
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[EmperorHasNoClothes]

1. *'s response is one big lie

Why would anyone believe he is going to do anything for universal health care if he is reelected? He has spent four years ignoring domestic issues (and f-ing up everything else).

[TaleWgnDg]

2. GWBush is not in favor of universal healthcare nor is he

in favor of one payer universal healthcare. None of the rightwingnuts are nor are the rest of the Republicans. Why? Because all of them are on the teat of nourishment through campaign financing and other lobbying perks from the drug companies, the insurance companies, the AMA (American Medical Association), MDs, and other healthcare providers and deliverers. Why cut the cord?

May Dumbya and Company suffer on their petard as have others who've suffered through little or no healthcare coverage and high costs. We are the sole country, the world's superpower -- w/ the world's worst delivery system of healthcare, the most expensive and least effective means to deliver healthcare to its citizens in the developed world. All other developed countries have better more efficient and less expensive healthcare delivery systems than do we! Unreal.

And u/ the Republicans, America will never achieve the goal of universal nor single payer healthcare coverage.

This is another fact that the Republicans have successfully shovelled under the rug. How can the elephant stay u/ the rug? It's a huge issue.