In Their Own Words: 2008 Presidential Candidates on Health Care and Financial Security

Transcription

1 2008 In Their Own Words: 2008 Presidential Candidates on Health Care and Financial Security Affordable, uality health care and long-term financial security are two issues that Americans care deeply about in the 2008 Presidential election. To help you learn what the candidates have to say about these critical issues, Divided We Fail has produced this booklet that contains the candidates own words on these topics. Divided We Fail used the candidates own words in press reports and legislative materials to develop this booklet. We encourage you to go to the candidates websites to read more about the candidate s position on each issue. Prior to publication, each candidate was asked to review our publication to ensure the accuracy of the uotations. Share this booklet with family and friends. Share your ideas on these issues with the candidates. Ask the candidates to expand on their ideas on these important issues. Share your stories and ideas about these issues with Divided We Fail ( Divided We Fail encourages you to use this booklet in making a decision about the candidate that best represents your views. Inside: Republican 4-5 Democrat 6-7

2 For more information on Divided We Fail visit AARP.

3 What is Divided We Fail? AARP launched Divided We Fail to raise the voices of millions of Americans who believe that health and long-term financial security are the most pressing issues facing our nation here at home. Divided We Fail is a broad and diverse initiative that includes consumers, labor and business. As part of Divided We Fail s efforts, AARP created this document In Their Own Words in conjunction with Business Roundtable (an association of CEOs from the largest companies in the country) and the National Federation of Independent Business (the nation s leading small business association). The numbers for health care and financial security are compelling: Twenty-three percent of Americans have problems paying medical bills and millions go bankrupt every year because of these bills. Twenty-nine percent say they have skipped treatment, tests or prescriptions because of costs. Forty-six million Americans are uninsured. Just one-fifth of workers today have a traditional pension plan. Social Security needs to be strengthened for future generations. Half of private sector workers are not signed up for a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan. Only half of families have saved money in any kind of retirement account, and among those who have, the typical family has saved less than $35,000. Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues 1

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5 The time for action is now. Americans have the right to know where our candidates stand. Health and financial security aren t Republican or Democratic issues they are American issues. We have the right to demand that our candidates address these critical issues facing our families, and, when elected, keep their campaign promises. Divided We Fail searched press reports and legislative materials to learn what they planned to do about affordable, uality health care and lifetime financial security for all Americans. Here is what we found by July 10, Prior to publication, each candidate was asked to review the uote included for him for accuracy. You can read more by going to the candidates websites or calling their campaigns. Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues 3

6 DWF Platform Republican Access to Affordable, Quality Health Care Affordable Health Care We believe all Americans should have access to affordable health care, including prescription drugs, and these costs should not burden future generations. Wellness & Prevention We believe wellness and prevention efforts, including changes in personal behavior such as diet and exercise, should be top national priorities. Long-Term Care We believe Americans should have choices when it comes to long-term care allowing them to maintain their independence at home or in their communities with expanded and affordable financing options. Senator John McCain (R) The biggest problem with the American health care system is that it costs too much I believe that everyone should get a tax credit of $2500, $5000 for families, if they have health insurance. It is good tax policy to take away the bias toward giving workers benefits instead of wages. It is good health policy to reward having insurance no matter where your policy comes from. Drugs are an important part of medicine if there are ways to bring greater competition to our drug markets by safe reimportation of drugs, by faster introduction of generic drugs, or by any other means we should do so. (CNN, POLITICS/12/21/mccain.trans.healtcare/) I believe workers should have the option to purchase a cheaper policy between jobs and a higher cost one when they can afford it. We should consider allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, have the freedom to purchase coverage that reflects their medical priorities, and be permitted to save more money in tax-exempt Health Savings Accounts The answer is to enhance the ability of the free market to offer affordable insurance options for as many Americans as possible and to help those without insurance to access the healthcare system (New York Daily News, 7/3/2007, report/2007/07/03/ _the_daily_ news_candidate_challenge john-1.html) We must do more to take care of ourselves to prevent chronic diseases when possible, and do more to adhere to treatment after we are diagnosed with an illness. Childhood obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are all on the rise. We must again teach our children about health, nutrition and exercise vital life information. (ADVANCE for Nurses, 5/12/2008, nursing.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=108062) We must also move away from fee-for-service toward coordinated care that focuses on prevention and paying for uality outcomes. Insurance companies should have incentives not only for them, but also for the people they insure for incentives to wellness and fitness, and they should be concrete, even in the form of cash payments for people, including payments even to health club fees (GOP Candidate Debate, 10/25/2007, www. vtap.com/video/sioux+city+republican+ Presidential+Debate%252C+October+25%25 2C+2007/CL _35ff849f6) [W]e need incentives for home health care as opposed to long-term care. In my state of Arizona, we adopted a proposal which incentivizes health care providers to keep people in home health care settings. Dramatically less expensive than long-term care. (New York Times, 1/5/2008, com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05text-rdebate. html) I am confident in the pioneering approaches for delivering care to people in a home setting, and would look to them first as models for how we need to approach this issue. There have been a variety of promising state-based experiments such as Cash and Counseling or The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Through these programs, seniors are given a monthly assistance which they can use to hire workers and purchase care-related services and goods. They can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. It also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers. 4 Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues

7 Long-Term Financial Security Social Security We believe our children and grandchildren should have an adeuate uality of life when they retire. Social Security must be strengthened without burdening future generations. Saving & Working We believe workers should be provided with financial incentives to save, should have access to effective retirement plans, and should be able to keep working and contributing to society regardless of age. Financial Literacy We believe Americans of all ages should have access to tools to help manage their finances, and save for the future and better, easy to understand information to help them increase their financial literacy and manage their money wisely. I want young workers to be able to, if they choose, to take part of their own money which is their taxes and put it in an account which has their name on it. Now, that s a voluntary thing, it s for younger people, it would not affect any presentday retirees or the system as necessary. (CNN, American Morning, 07/08/08, TRANSCRIPTS/0807/08/ltm.03.html) I believe that we may meet our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes, and I support supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. People in both parties agree that we must make the hard decisions to restore solvency to these programs I ll submit a plan to save Social Security, and I ll ask Congress to do the same. I ll work on a bipartisan basis to make the hard choices; to protect the retirement security of the American worker, and the growth of the American economy. And if Congress is afraid to make those choices, then they can just let me do it. (Washington Post online, washingtonpost.com/2008-presidentialcandidates/issues/candidates/johnmccain/) Automatic payroll deductions for employee IRA s has proven to be an effective approach to encouraging and helping workers save for retirement, and I support them. I know that for many seniors, dividend and capital gains income is critical to a comfortable retirement, which is why I strongly support keeping capital gains and dividend taxes low. To boost savings and retirement security, obviously, health savings accounts are important; 401(k) s are important, reform of the entire tax code. One of the most compelling issues outside of health care itself, but is directly connected to it, is the complexity and incredible Byzantine tax code that we have adopted over the years. If we would have a simpler, fairer tax code, and one that provides incentives for wellness and fitness, one that, frankly, one of the areas that would need to be fixed is our medical malpractice situation where doctors then don t practice defensive medicine, where we have incentives for savings across the board. (GOP Candidate Debate, 10/25/2007, www. vtap.com/video/sioux+city+republican+ Presidential+Debate%252C+October+25%25 2C+2007/CL _35ff849f6) There are 80 million family homes in America and those homeowners are now facing the reality that the bubble has burst and prices go down as well as up. Homeowners should be able to understand easily the terms and obligations of a mortgage. In return, they have an obligation to provide truthful financial information and should be subject to penalty if they do not. Lenders who initiate loans should be held accountable for the uality and performance of those loans and strict standards should be reuired in the lending process. We must have greater transparency in the lending process so that every borrower knows exactly what he is agreeing to and where every lender is reuired to meet the highest standards of ethical behavior. (Minnesota Monitor, 3/26/2008, www. minnesotamonitor.com/showdiary. do?diaryid=3533) Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues 5

8 DWF Platform Democrat Access to Affordable, Quality Health Care Affordable Health Care We believe all Americans should have access to affordable health care, including prescription drugs, and these costs should not burden future generations. Wellness & Prevention We believe wellness and prevention efforts, including changes in personal behavior such as diet and exercise, should be top national priorities. Long-Term Care We believe Americans should have choices when it comes to long-term care allowing them to maintain their independence at home or in their communities with expanded and affordable financing options. Senator Barack Obama (D) I am committed to signing a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office. My plan begins by covering every American. No one will be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness. Everyone will be able [to] buy into a new health insurance plan that s similar to the one that every federal employee [has]. It will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity, disease management, and mental health care. If you cannot afford this insurance, you will receive a subsidy to pay for it. If you have children, they will be covered. If you change jobs, your insurance will go with you. If you want more choices, you will also have the option of purchasing a number of affordable private plans that have similar benefits and standards for uality and efficiency. [My] health care plan will save each American family up to $2,500 on their premiums. [W]e will make generic drugs more available to consumers and we will tell the drug companies that their days of forcing affordable prescription drugs out of the market are over. (New York Times, 5/29/2007, com/2007/05/29/us/politics/28text-obama. html) We all know the saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But today we re nowhere close to that ounce. We spend less than four cents of every health care dollar on prevention and public health even though eighty percent of the risk factors involved in the leading causes of death are behavior-related and thus preventable. The problem is, there s currently no financial incentive for health care providers to offer services that will encourage patients to eat right or exercise or go for annual check-ups and screenings that can help detect diseases early. The real profit today is made in treating diseases, not preventing them. That s wrong, which is why in our new national health care plan we will reuire coverage of evidence-based, preventive care services, and make sure they are paid for. But in the end, prevention only works if we take responsibility for our own health and make the right decisions in our own lives. (New York Times, 5/29/2007, com/2007/05/29/us/politics/28text-obama. html) The long-term care system is heavily biased towards institutional care even though most people would rather remain at home and the uality of care is often poor. Moreover, nursing home and home care are very expensive, and Medicare coverage for both is limited, making catastrophic expenses routine. As president, I will work to give seniors choices about their care, consistent with their needs, and not biased towards institutional care. I will work to reform the financing of long term care to protect seniors and families from impoverishment or debt. I will work to improve the uality of elder care, including by giving our long-term care and geriatric workforce the respect and support they deserve and training more nurses and health care workers in geriatrics. 6 Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues

9 Long-Term Financial Security Social Security We believe our children and grandchildren should have an adeuate uality of life when they retire. Social Security must be strengthened without burdening future generations. Saving & Working We believe workers should be provided with financial incentives to save, should have access to effective retirement plans, and should be able to keep working and contributing to society regardless of age. Financial Literacy We believe Americans of all ages should have access to tools to help manage their finances, and save for the future and better, easy to understand information to help them increase their financial literacy and manage their money wisely. Well let me be clear: privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when [it was proposed]. It s a bad idea today. It would eventually cut guaranteed benefits by up to 50%. It would cost a trillion dollars that we don t have to implement on the front end, permanently elevating our debt. And most of all, it would gamble the retirement plans of millions of Americans on the stock market. That s why I stood up against this plan in the Senate, and that s why I won t stand for it as President. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 06/13/08, blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/06/ excerpts_from_obamas_prepared.html) I am committed to ensuring Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people. I will be honest with the American people about Social Security and the ways we can address the long-term shortfall. I will protect Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries, oppose efforts to raise the retirement age and stand firmly against privatization. I believe that the first place to look for ways to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax, which only applies to the first $102,000 a worker makes. I have consistently said that we should examine including a donut hole to ensure we do not increase the burdens on middle class Americans. I ll establish an automatic workplace pension policy. Employers will be reuired to enroll workers in a direct deposit retirement account. And the federal government will match savings for working families. (CNN, 11/7/2007, POLITICS/12/21/obama.trans. americandream/) I will also expand the existing Savers Credit to match 50 percent of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000, and I will make the tax credit refundable. Senior citizens who make less than $50,000, we want to say to them: You don t have to pay an income tax. You re already having a hard time making ends meet. (New York Times, 2/19/2008, com/2008/02/19/us/politics/19text-obama. html) Older Americans have a wide range of skills and knowledge to contribute to local and national public service efforts. New efforts are needed particularly to tap the idealism and experience of the baby boomer generation the largest and healthiest generation to enter retirement in history. (Boston Globe, 12/5/2007, news/politics/politicalintelligence/2007/12/ obama_donning_k.html) To make sure that Americans know what they re signing up for, I ll institute a five-star rating system to inform consumers about the level of risk involved in every credit card. And we ll establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights that will ban unilateral changes to a credit card agreement; ban rate changes to debt that s already incurred; and ban interest on late fees. (CNN, 11/7/2007, POLITICS/12/21/obama.trans. americandream/) I rise today to reintroduce legislation to protect American consumers and homeowners from fraudulent and abusive mortgage lending practice. [The STOP FRAUD Act] also authorizes several grant programs to help State and local law enforcement fight fraud (153 Cong. Rec. S5106, 4/25/2007, Statement of Senator Obama) Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues 7

10 AARP is nonpartisan and does not have a political action committee (PAC), endorse political candidates, or make contributions to political parties or political candidates campaigns. AARP educates the public about issues of concern to older Americans and their families through voter guides, issue workshops, and candidate debates. For more information contact: Divided We Fail AARP 601 E Street, NW Washington, DC Presidential Candidates and the Divided We Fail Issues

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