John Edwards for President-Edwards Stands Out On Health Care Debate

Edwards Stands Out On Health Care Debate

Marc Cooper
The Nation
Mar 24, 2007

Las Vegas – Seven of the Democratic presidential contenders spent all of Saturday morning talking about their health care policies at an union organized forum at UNLV; and while they vowed to provide universal coverage if elected, only John Edwards presented a plan with any significant details.

"One of the reasons that I want to be president of the United States is to make sure that every woman and every person in America gets the same things that we have," Edwards said referring to the announcement last week that his wife Elizabeth will be in cancer treatment the rest of her life.

Edwards was also the only candidate who said that, without doubt, taxes would have to be raised to be pay for the $90-120 billion price tag on his plan for universal coverage. Anybody saying otherwise, he said, is likely trying to sell the voters the "Brooklyn Bridge." Senator Barack Obama didn't rule out raising taxes, saying he would do "whatever it takes" to get universal coverage by the end of his first term but wasn't specific.

Edwards' plan, first unveiled earlier this year, calls for an expansion of both public and private health plans, forces employers to either provide health care or pay into a fund that does, mandates individuals to buy insurance and offers government subsidies for families with incomes of up to $80k who can't afford it.

Hillary Clinton also made a spirited presentation to the hundreds of audience members brought in by forum co-sponsor, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), but she was more vague in how she would achieve universal coverage. She put her emphasis instead on ending the "discrimination" exercised by insurance companies when they exclude or disenroll policyholders. "Every health insurance company will have to insure everybody with no exclusions for pre-existing conditions," she said.

The forum was co-sponsored by the Democratic think tank, the Center for American Progress.

Barack Obama, who has suffered from accusations that he deals too much in platitudes and not enough in concrete offerings, came to the forum surprisingly unarmed with details. He admitted that he has not yet finalized a plan but promises one will be forthcoming, Instead he listed a number of "principles" that would guide him toward covering all Americans. "The basic principles," he said, "are everybody is in it, there has to be more money for prevention, and some form of pooling of costs and risks. If we have another forum in a few months and my plan is still not on my website, I will be in trouble." Obama also strongly suggested that he was the best candidate to provide the missing leadership needed to pass fundamental reform. "Every four years, somebody trots out a health care plan. The question is do we have the political will and sense of urgency to actually get it done. I want to be held accountable to get it done."

Second tier candidates Bill Richardson, Christopher Dodd, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich also made presentations. Richardson said he would pay for coverage by using the billions now spent in Iraq. Kucinich, as he did a month ago when the Democratic candidates met in a Carson City forum, chided all of his competitors for not having sufficient courage and clammed them for not directly confronting insurance companies and for not proposing a single-payer system in which the government would underwrite all health care. He offered no details on how the system would work or how it would be financed. He did tickle the audience and the press, however, with one of the more colorful lines of the day. "You need a president who didn't fall out of Christmas tree," he said. "You need a president who doesn't have a key in the back being wound up by special interests."

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger along with former Bill Clinton aide and current head of the Center for American Progress John Podesta met with the press after the forum to offer their evaluations. Both were excessively cautious and non-committal praising all of the candidates for now being more specific. When I asked Podesta to be specific about which new specifics he heard he answered only in vague terms. Another high-ranking West Coast SEIU official, speaking to me off the record, said: "If the election were held today, we'd be supporting Edwards. When he comes into town he asks what he can do for us. Hillary asks us what we can do for her."

In 2004, the SEIU was an early endorser of Howard Dean and by the end of the general campaign had put $65 million into pro-Democratic campaigns. "This time around I can tell you it's not going to be less than $65 million," Burger told me, referring to the '08 campaign. SEIU will not, however, endorse a Democratic candidate until this coming September.