Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Tackle Healthcare Crisis

With six months remaining before the first presidential primary, Democratic candidates for president have been piecing together a solution to one of the nation's most critical domestic problems, healthcare. In the recent Youtube-CNN joint debate, candidates had their ideas challenged and their views analyzed by a new generation of concerned citizens who fear political talk will be followed by policy inaction. To further that quandary, candidates like John Edwards and Barack Obama have been on the campaign trail selling their plan for solving the healthcare problem.

With healthcare being the second priority on the domestic agenda of citizens behind the economy, presidential hopefuls are finding the road tough sledding as comprehensive healthcare reform debates have proven just how big of a problem the healthcare crisis is. When then First Lady Hilary Clinton proposed universal health coverage thirteen years ago, many in Congress, especially the Republican party, found healthcare to be such a divided, complex issue it was easier to ignore it than confront it head on. But with the number of people becoming senior citizens increasing exponentially almost daily, a solution to the problem must be developed before the current system collapses under the weight of the healthcare needs of baby boomers that will be getting older en masse over the next twenty years.

At a recent campaign event in Las Vegas, democratic presidential hopeful had one of his most impactful moments as a 20-year old woman talked about a healthcare crisis in her home. The young woman's mother had recently gone to get a biopsy and after receiving the results, the doctor shared with her a new certain future of breast cancer. At the same time, the doctor expressed concern because the mother's basic healthcare insurance will not cover preventive treatment. At which, the 20-year old woman looked at John Edwards, heart to heart and said, 'my mother has to wait to get cancer, to get treated'.

Such a reality is becoming more the norm than anyone would like for it to. As John Edwards responded to the young woman about his wife's battle with incurable cancer and the prognosis based on the quality of health insurance they have, the problem with healthcare became even more apparent and appalling, as the crowd of three hundred working class people, heard their own future through the experience of this young woman.

In a stop in Iowa City, Barack Obama, the Senator from Illinois, introduced the crowd to Amy Chicos. A small business owner who provides broadband Internet service to her small town is struggling to pay for the basic necessities because forty percent of the income into her home goes towards high insurance rates. Ms. Chicos' husband was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately lost a hip, a leg bone, and a lung twenty years ago. Even though he is in remission today, insurance companies refuse to offer less expensive coverage with the risk of the cancer returning in another form.

After recounting the Chicos' story, Barack Obama pleaded his case for his policy on universal healthcare reform. While his policy falls short of being truly universal, it does offer some actions that most Americans would appreciate most including cheaper premiums, policies for small businesses and an expanded safety-net program like Medicare. Now back to this universal question. Obama's plan is a systematic approach to enrollment. With that being said, economists and analysts believe about 15 million Americans will be outside the realm of his healthcare policy. Whether that number is large or not is up to ones own opinion.

With the nation's population of senior citizens about to skyrocket as baby boomers enter their retirement years and the number of children without healthcare steadily increasing; the groundswell of support for an answer to solving the healthcare is universal. What is not known is whose plan will work best to solve a problem over a century in the making. Whereas the filmmaker, Michael Moore has tried to use France's healthcare system as a model, the fact that France's population and demographics are far more confined than ours means that what works in France would probably not work for us.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of the state of California unveiled a plan to cover the uninsured citizens of his state. Other states like Massachusetts have already begun to tackle the problem as they try to introduce comprehensive healthcare plans for anyone who is not covered by an employee plan on their job. Massachusetts in fact has a plan similar to the one proposed by John Edwards. And while it suffered some missteps early on, they have regrouped and made the necessary changes to make universal healthcare a statewide mandate.

Around the nation, small businesses, corporations, and others are feeling the pinch as rising costs for both employers and employees have risen astronomically over the last ten years. It is estimated that health care costs per capita will reach $7,500 annually this year. That is an increase of over $800 in the last two years. The number of uninsured citizens has risen from 37 million to 46 million in the last ten years. And that does not include the number of immigrant or illegal men, women, and children who have made America home and use the medical system.

In 2005, many Americans were forced to pay a hidden tax that was invoked on them and their premiums to help insurance companies pay for uninsured citizens. That tax was over nine hundred dollars. With big businesses concerned that the playing field is not in their favor as they compete internationally Republicans and Democrats are scurrying to come up with an answer that will receive broad, bipartisan support. What Republicans want to do is minimize costs. Democrats on the other hand want to allow the government to negotiate with drug manufacturers to lower the drug prices for people on Medicare. They also want to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

MSNBC recently reported that over 52% of Americans would pay higher taxes in order to provide Universal Healthcare Coverage compared to 41% who would not. In fact, the majority of Americans feel that universal healthcare is the top domestic priority for the nation. Outside of the Iraq war, there is no bigger issue on the agenda of the people than universal healthcare. Whether bipartisan support is the problem or the political rankering that has plagued Congress and this administration the last five years, the American citizens believe that the Democrats can push universal healthcare reform in overwhelming support. That same support cannot be said for the Republicans. Only 28% of Americans believe that Republicans have a firm grasp on the issue of universal healthcare and a legitimate plan at reform.

With the presidential primaries less than nine months away and universal healthcare certainly issues of great importance, candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have released some idea of what they would like to do to solve the universal healthcare crisis in the nation. Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney's position is less known. Even though he was governor of Massachusetts when they passed their comprehensive healthcare legislation, he has recently distanced himself from that legislation. Other Republican frontrunners like Rudy Giuliani are equally invisible in this conversation.

Hillary Clinton wants to create a coverage plan that eliminates the possibility of any citizen being rejected or incurring insurance premium penalties because of pre-existing medical conditions. A common practice among health insurance companies is choosing not to cover these people or them having such excessive premiums that the cost of being insured can become more expensive than remaining without coverage. Additionally, she would like to trim the costs of healthcare by over $120 billion per year.

Now that the nation is being given a chance like the recent Youtube.com-CNN debate to voice their concerns and questions to candidates, presidential hopefuls are being forced to render more than the typical song-and-dance answers politicians are notorious for. In the Democratic Party, the charge is not being led by presidential candidates but by working middle-class people whose life and lifestyle are being greatly influenced by escalating healthcare costs. As the US gets older and the pull on healthcare increases, universal or comprehensive healthcare policy will become even more important and candidates will have to prove not only that they have a policy but they are willing to make a commitment to enacting it if and when they become president.