Topics in the News: Single Payer
Rudy Giuliani on Health Care
: Oct 30, 2007
FactCheck:Cancer survival rate 74% in UK; not 44% as claimed
In his radio ad, Rudy Giuliani falsely claims that under England's "socialized medicine" system only 44% of men with prostate cancer survive. That number turns out to be the result of bad math by a Giuliani campaign adviser, who admits that his figure
isn't "technically" a survival rate at all. Furthermore, the co-author of the study on which Giuliani's man based his calculations tells us his work is being misused, and that the 44% figure is both wrong and "misleading."
It's true that official survival rates for prostate cancer are higher in the US than in England, but the difference is not nearly as high as Giuliani claims. And even so, the higher survival rates in the US may simply reflect more aggressive
diagnosing of non-lethal cancers.
With the wealth of research available, Giuliani may well find other evidence to support his opposition to expanded federal health insurance programs. But that's no excuse for feeding a false statistic to the public.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org: AdWatch of 2007 campaign ad, "Chances"
Rudy Giuliani on Health Care
: Oct 30, 2007
AdWatch:Cancer survival rate 82% in US; 44% in socialized UK
[Giuliani radio ad]:GIULIANI: I had prostate cancer, five, six years ago. My chance of surviving prostate cancer, and thank God I was cured of it, in the US, 82%. My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England, only 44% under socialized medicine.
You and I should be making the decisions about what kind of health care we get with our doctors, not with a government bureaucrat. What we need to do is to give people a $15,000 deduction for a family, a
$7500 deduction for an individual so they can go out & by their own health insurance. If we do that, and we end up with a market of 50, 60 million Americans buying their own health insurance, without a mandate, the cost of health insurance will come down
and the quality will come up. Government has never been able to reduce costs. Government never increases quality. We have the best health care system in the world. We just have to make it better.
ANNOUNCER: Rudy Giuliani. Leadership. Principle. Results
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Source: FactCheck.org: AdWatch of 2007 campaign ad, "Chances"
Ron Paul on Health Care
: Oct 21, 2007
Socialized medicine won't work; nor managed care
You don't have to throw anybody out in the street, but long term you have move toward the marketplace. You cannot expect socialized medicine of the Hillary brand to work. And you can't expect the managed care system that we have today [to work, because
it] promotes and rewards the corporations. It's the drug companies & the HMOs & even the AMA that lobbies us for this managed care, and that's why the prices are high. It's only in medicine that technology has raised prices rather than lowering prices.
Click for Ron Paul on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP primary debate in Orlando, Florida
Ron Paul on Health Care
: Sep 17, 2007
Oppose mandated health insurance and universal coverage
Q: Nations with socialized medicine reduced the cost of their healthcare systems by restricting patients' access that needed treatments and healthcare rationing. Will you protect the availability of needed medical care by opposing current efforts to
subject Americans to government-mandated health insurance and universal coverage?- HUCKABEE: Yes.
- TANCREDO: Yes.
- COX: Yes.
- BROWNBACK: Yes.
- PAUL: Yes.
- HUNTER: Yes.
- KEYES: Yes.
Click for Ron Paul on other issues.
Source: [Xref Huckabee] 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate
John Cox on Health Care
: Sep 17, 2007
Oppose mandated health insurance and universal coverage
Q: Nations with socialized medicine reduced the cost of their healthcare systems by restricting patients' access that needed treatments and healthcare rationing. Will you protect the availability of needed medical care by opposing current efforts to
subject Americans to government-mandated health insurance and universal coverage?- HUCKABEE: Yes.
- TANCREDO: Yes.
- COX: Yes.
- BROWNBACK: Yes.
- PAUL: Yes.
- HUNTER: Yes.
- KEYES: Yes.
Click for John Cox on other issues.
Source: [Xref Huckabee] 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate
Duncan Hunter on Health Care
: Sep 17, 2007
Oppose mandated health insurance and universal coverage
Q: Nations with socialized medicine reduced the cost of their healthcare systems by restricting patients' access that needed treatments and healthcare rationing. Will you protect the availability of needed medical care by opposing current efforts to
subject Americans to government-mandated health insurance and universal coverage?- HUCKABEE: Yes.
- TANCREDO: Yes.
- COX: Yes.
- BROWNBACK: Yes.
- PAUL: Yes.
- HUNTER: Yes.
- KEYES: Yes.
Click for Duncan Hunter on other issues.
Source: [Xref Huckabee] 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate
Tom Tancredo on Health Care
: Sep 17, 2007
Oppose mandated health insurance and universal coverage
Q: Nations with socialized medicine reduced the cost of their healthcare systems by restricting patients' access that needed treatments and healthcare rationing. Will you protect the availability of needed medical care by opposing current efforts to
subject Americans to government-mandated health insurance and universal coverage?- HUCKABEE: Yes.
- TANCREDO: Yes.
- COX: Yes.
- BROWNBACK: Yes.
- PAUL: Yes.
- HUNTER: Yes.
- KEYES: Yes.
Click for Tom Tancredo on other issues.
Source: [Xref Huckabee] 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate
Mike Huckabee on Health Care
: Sep 17, 2007
Oppose mandated health insurance and universal coverage
Q: Nations with socialized medicine reduced the cost of their healthcare systems by restricting patients' access that needed treatments and healthcare rationing. Will you protect the availability of needed medical care by opposing current efforts to
subject Americans to government-mandated health insurance and universal coverage?- HUCKABEE: Yes.
- TANCREDO: Yes.
- COX: Yes.
- BROWNBACK: Yes.
- PAUL: Yes.
- HUNTER: Yes.
- KEYES: Yes.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate
John Edwards on Health Care
: Sep 13, 2007
Let people choose between private plan and single-payer
Q: What about single-payer?A: I constructed my healthcare plan in a way that everybody is required to be covered, but that people could choose between a private plan and the government plan, which is essentially Medicare-Plus. I did that for a very
simple reason. Because there is a very good and legitimate argument that we should go straight to single-payer health care as other countries have. I've also heard the flipside of that from lots of people, who are nervous about going to a
Canadian system, for example. We're going to have the American people deciding what provides the most cost effective, most efficient, best health care.
Q: You would not necessarily eliminate a single-payer system as the best way to go?
A:
Oh, no, I would not. I mean, there are huge advantages to single-payer. Much lower administrative costs. But I thought it was something that we should let Americans decide. Get everybody covered, get rid of the holes in the system.
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: Huffington Post Mash-Up: 2007 Democratic on-line debate
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Aug 9, 2007
Medicare For All: all long-term care totally covered
Under my plan for not-for-profit health care, system, single payer, universal, Medicare for all, long-term care is totally covered. People should not be locked into these higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles, which are destroying people's economic
capabilities. So under the plan that I have, if someone has AIDS, they're totally covered. Under the plan that I have, if anyone needs long-term care for any kind of an illnesses, they're totally covered. And the fact of the matter is, we already are
paying for a universal standard of care; we're just not getting it. Other candidates are talking about maintaining this for-profit health care system, and anyone who has ever had a loved one who has needed medical care and couldn't get it because they
didn't have the money understands the urgency of having someone not just in the race but in the White House who's ready to rally the American people in the cause of not-for-profit health care, Medicare for all. And I'm doing that.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Sam Brownback on Health Care
: Aug 5, 2007
Market-based solution over socialized government-pay system
Q: The SCHIP bill would raise tobacco tax. How do we pay for health care in this country without raising some additional revenues?A: Well, that's why I voted against the bill. But it wasn't just that. The piece of it that I think you have to recognize
is that you've got a fundamental decision to make here on health care, which is 16% of the economy, going north fast, probably headed to 20% of our total economy. Do you think the solution to providing more and better health care is (1) that we should
have more government solutions involved, or (2) should there be more market-based solutions involved? And I think clearly the answer here is you need more market forces in health care. That's what we need to do. Instead, you've got the Democrats doing a
step-by-step march toward a socialized government-pay system. And they're very happy to do it that way. But we can get better health care going this way. And we can hold the price of it down and not bust the federal treasury at the same time.
Click for Sam Brownback on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Duncan Hunter on Health Care
: Aug 5, 2007
SCHIP bill is the first extension of socialized medicine
I had a senior citizen come into my office one day. She had a $10 wrist brace on. And she said, "I was told not to complain about this, because government is paying for it." She gave me the bill. It was $525. You're going to see a lot of $525 wrist
braces if we continue to pass this SCHIP bill which really is the first extension of socialized medicine. This is socialized medicine. It's going to go to families that make $60,000 a year. Those aren't poor children [being covered by SCHIP].
Click for Duncan Hunter on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Fred Thompson on Health Care
: Jun 26, 2007
Americans better served than nationalized Canadian system
We're hearing those phrases again; national health care, universal health care, socialized medicine. We're being told that government bureaucrats can take over our entire medical industry--which by the way is the best and most complex in the world--and
make it better.It used to be a lot easier to make the case for nationalizing health care before we actually started looking at the countries that have it. Nearest home, it was the Canadian Health Care system that lost its luster.
Despite paying 40% of each tax dollar on health care, many Canadian experts have recognized that their health care system's in a state of crisis. The problem has been, simply, not enough health care facilities to serve the population--leading to long and
sometimes fatal delays while waiting for treatments. Many Canadians have started coming to the US for treatments that they just can't get at home.
This is what we're supposed to copy? The poorest Americans are getting far better service than that.
Click for Fred Thompson on other issues.
Source: Thompson's blog on ABCradio.com, "Duplicating Disaster"
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Jun 3, 2007
Half of all bankruptcies come from medical bills
Half the bankruptcies in the country connected to people not being able to pay their doctor bills or hospital bills, premiums, co-pays and deductibles going so far through the roof -- 46 million Americans, no health care; another 50 million underinsured,
there is only one way to get health care coverage for all Americans, and that is to have a universal single-payer, not-for-profit healthcare system, Medicare for All. I've written the bill with John Conyers, supported by 14,000 physicians.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: 2007 Dem. debate at Saint Anselm College
Mitt Romney on Health Care
: Jun 3, 2007
FactCheck: Romney plan virtually identical to Obama plan
Romney tried to distance his state's universal health insurance plan from the proposals of the Democratic presidential candidates. Romney said, "Every Democrat up there's talking about a form of socialized medicine, government takeover, massive tax
increase. I'm the guy who actually tackled this issue. We get all of our citizens insured. We get people that were uninsured with private health insurance. We have to stand up and say the market works. Personal responsibility works."There are two
problems with Romney's characterization: One, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate to propose a single-payer, wholly government-funded health care plan. And two, Romney's Massachusetts universal insurance system bears a striking
resemblance to the health care proposals of the Democratic front-runners. For example, the Obama and Romney plans are virtually identical. But in our view, the term "government takeover" could only be applied to Rep. Kucinich's proposal.
Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College
Rudy Giuliani on Health Care
: Apr 27, 2007
No socialized medicine; give vouchers to the poor
Rudy Giuliani accused his Democratic rivals of embracing health care plans that would amount to socialized medicine. Responding to comments in the first Democratic primary debate Thursday night, Giuliani claimed
Democrats favor "mandatory" universal health care and the plans would only exacerbate the cost of care by putting the system in the hands of bureaucrats. "They're moving toward socialized medicine so fast, it'll make your head spin,"
Giuliani said, adding that private solutions could help bring down the cost of care. "When we want to cover poor people, as we should, we give them vouchers."
Democratic candidates renewed their calls for universal health care during a debate in South Carolina, saying that a new system would help streamline costs and cover the nation's 45 million uninsured.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: Mike Baker, Associated Press, apnews.com
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Mar 24, 2007
Break the hold of the insurance companies
Q: People say the consequence of trying to contain cost in a single-payer system would ultimately be rationing. A: The insurance companies, when they look at a single-payer not-for-profit system, they'll say, my God, rationing. What do we have now?
46 million Americans don't even have coverage. Talk about rationing. They're not even in the line! Another 50 million people are underinsured and the rest are paying these high premiums, co-pays and deductibles. We've got to break the hold the insurance
companies have. And their public relations operations would say, well, rationing. The fact of the matter is this plan I'm talking about covers everyone. How do you reduce costs? Let's look at the costs that are involved in the system rights now.
Corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing, the cost of paperwork. All this takes about 31% out of the health care dollar. Now, what does all that have to do with health care? Zero, zip, nada.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: SEIU Democratic Health Care Forum in Las Vegas
John Edwards on Health Care
: Mar 24, 2007
Job-based insurance can be accomplished, not single-payer
Q: Many people argue that the whole idea of basing your health coverage on where you work is just an anachronism. It's a historical accident. You, however, chose to build on that system. Why? A: It is true that single-payer health care systems in the
world dramatically reduce costs and significantly reduce administrative costs, particularly compared to private insurers. It's also true that a lot of people who are listening to this forum like the health insurance they have now and would like to keep
it. And my judgment is to get it done so that we don't spend another decade arguing about whether we keep the system we have now or actually have universal health care. I think my proposal, a truly universal plan, but doesn't go directly to single-payer,
can be accomplished. And second, it does give people choice. Now, it may be that choice gravitates towards a single-payer plan [by consumers choosing a Medicare-Plus option]--but consumers will decide that.
Click for John Edwards on other issues.
Source: SEIU Democratic Health Care Forum in Las Vegas
Mike Gravel on Health Care
: Mar 24, 2007
Single-payer health care plan via vouchers you can add to
Under the single-payer health care voucher plan.we would issue vouchers to every single American. The vouchers, you don't pay for them, they're issued to you. You sign up every year for them. The vouchers will have a very modest co-pay, a very modest
deductible, but that's it. Everybody gets the same product universally. And then if you want more than the product you got, you pay for it. There's no magic in this whole process. Somebody is going to pay. You know who pays, it's the average American.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: SEIU Democratic Health Care Forum in Las Vegas
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Mar 24, 2007
HR 676, Conyers-Kucinich bill, establishes Medicare for all
A not-for-profit health care system is not only possible, but HR676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill, actually establishes Medicare for all, a single-payer system and it's a not-for-profit system. It's time to end this control that insurance companies have not
only over health care but over our political system. We're being told here today to buy into a view of the world which says that, well, you know, but the insurance companies run the system. We'll work out competition between the insurance companies &
maybe we'll have government subsidize the insurance companies. Where is our call for greatness?
I'm talking about a real deal for the American people, a universal single-payer not-for-profit Medicare for all. It's already into legislative form.
62 members of Congress have signed on. Over 14,000 physicians have signed on. We can do this. Break the hold of the insurance company on our health care system and lift the American people out of poverty. That's what my presidency is going to be about.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: SEIU Democratic Health Care Forum in Las Vegas
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Feb 26, 2004
Not socialism, but a change from predatory capitalism
Q: On health care?KUCINICH: My proposal is to have a universal single-payer, not-for-profit health care system, because that would lift tens of millions of Americans out of poverty.
Q: Harry Truman proposed that in 1948.
KUCINICH: Well, and you know what? John Conyers and I introduced the bill in this Congress. And that would provide all coverage for everyone, all medically necessary procedures, plus vision care, dental care, mental health care, and long-term care.
Q: In other words, socialism?
KUCINICH: What we have now is predatory capitalism which makes of the American people a cash crop for the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies. And so I'm talking about a change.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Democratic 2004 primary debate at USC
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Feb 26, 2004
Single-payer isn't in platform because it offends donors
KUCINCIH: Washington right now is controlled by the insurance interests and by the pharmaceutical companies. I went to our Democratic platform committee with a proposal for universal single-payer health care.
And it was quickly shot down because it offended some of the contributors to our party. We must be ready to take up this challenge of bringing health care to all the American people.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Democratic 2004 primary debate at USC
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Jan 29, 2004
Not-for-profit system differs from Hillary's pro-HMO system
Q: Why is there so much resistance on the part of your colleagues to going to a single-payer system? Is it the Hillary factor? A: No. What Senator Clinton was proposing was really more HMOs, and the competition in the insurance industry caused so
many people in the insurance industry to be afraid of it. My proposal shifts the whole system into a not-for-profit system. It eliminates these corporate profits and stock options and executive salaries, the advertising, lobbying, marketing costs.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Democratic 2004 primary Debate in Greenville SC
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Jan 25, 2004
Tax employers to pay for single-payer plan
Q: How, if at all, would you change the new prescription drug benefit for the elderly?A: I will include complete coverage of prescription drugs in a single-payer plan that provides every man,
woman, and child with comprehensive health coverage from whatever doctors they choose, and does so through a tax on employers that is lower than what employers who now provide coverage pay on average.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Associated Press policy Q&A, "Medicare"
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Nov 4, 2003
I'm not selling insurance-switch to not-for-profit system
Q: What makes your single-payer health care proposal different than other candidates' universal health insurance?A: Many of the other candidates say they want to make sure all Americans have health insurance. I am not selling insurance.
I want to create a system which makes it possible for all Americans to have health care. This means we must move from a for-profit health care system which is controlled by insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, to a not-for-profit system.
This is the essence of my proposal for Universal Health care, Medicare for All. A single payer system, it is embodied in legislation, HR 676. This fundamental change in our health care system will provide all Americans with access to quality health care.
Whether you are working or not, you will be covered. The scope of coverage will include all medically necessary procedures, dental health care, mental health care, vision care, long term care and a prescription drug benefit.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Concord Monitor / WashingtonPost.com on-line Q&A
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Sep 25, 2003
7.7% tax to pay for full coverage
The pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies control our health care system. I've introduced legislation that provides for a totally new change; that has health care for people, not for profit. It's called Medicare For All.
It's a single-payer program. And it's financed by a 7.7% tax paid by employers. And it covers everything. It covers all medically necessary procedures and a wide range of benefits.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Sep 25, 2003
Single-payer for alternative medicine, mental health, more
KUCINICH: Dr. Dean's plan would leave 10 million Americans out. It's important that all Americans be covered, [including] alternative medicine, a prescription drug benefit, vision care and dental care and mental health care, and long-term nursing care-
all covered under one Medicare For All, single-payer program. I'm the one who has that plan. I'm the one who's offering it. I'm the only one on this stage who can say that. DEAN: In all due respect to all the candidates here, these folks have been in
Washington a long time and talked about health insurance for a long time, and we have very little to show for it. In my state, 99% of the kids that are eligible for health insurance who are under 18, 96% have it. Everybody under 150% of poverty, all our
working poor people, have health insurance. And a lot of seniors have prescription benefits. This does need to be a system that's built on what we have. We've done that in Vermont. I'd like the opportunity to do that for the whole country.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: [X-ref Dean] Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: Aug 1, 2003
Medicare for All: universal single-payer national system
The Kucinich plan is enhanced 'Medicare for All' -- a universal, single-payer system of national health insurance, carefully phased in over 10 years. It addresses everyone's needs, including the 40 million Americans without coverage
and those paying exorbitant rates for health insurance. This approach to healthcare emphasizes patient choice, and puts doctors and patients in control of the system, not insurance companies.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
: May 3, 2003
Raise taxes for guaranteed, single payer, universal care
Q: Are you willing to raise taxes to cover everyone? KUCINICH: We can phase in [an increase] in the payroll tax to 7.7% on all employers and have that be our mainstay of our national health care plan. We have to get the profit out of health care.
And that means get the private insurance companies out of health care. Any plan that fails to do that is not going to deliver the best quality universal health care. I introduced HR676, Medicare for all: guaranteed, single payer, universal health care.
It's time to have health insurance for the American people, not the insurance companies.
Q: The Republicans are going to say there they go again, Democrats are raising taxes again. Is there anyone willing to rule out raising taxes?
LIEBERMAN:
I am not willing to raise taxes to pay for health insurance in [that] way. All I am going to do is put the tax rate back to where it was when Bill Clinton was president, because we did a lot better under Bill Clinton than we are under George Bush.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: [X-ref to Lieberman] Democratic Debate in Columbia SC