Health Care

A growing problem in America is trying to find ways to help all Americans to get the treatment they need. And, for the fully insured - there is the problem of ever-rising costs, whether paid by the employer, the individual, or both.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about what a universal health care system is; universal health care plans provide access to heath services to all. Everyone has access to the health services they need. The system is not free, and if the American people decide to go this way – we must pay for it. There is an increasing call for a public-run single-payer system to offer an alternative to existing insurance company plans and their profit bearing costs. This has largely been advocated by consumers, and increasingly some health care providers. If such health coverage plans are adopted they should be run by the states.

These health care providers seem interested in extending the benefits of their education and training to the health of the nation.

Many other Americans advocate for a health care system akin to the universal plans in Britain, Germany and Switzerland. Each of these nations has one thing in common; they have the best health care delivery systems in the world.

There is a proud tradition in America of rallying to solve problems. Now is the time for us to come together and fix the problem with our existing health care rationing system.

Yes, health care in America is rationed. It is rationed by one's ability or inability to pay. If you can pay a lot - you get access to excellent facilities; if you can pay little or nothing - the emergency room becomes your point or first and last resort.

The most dangerous and costly way to deliver health care is on an emergency basis.

The reason why - is that the best care is delivered when the records of a patient are available and the doctor has access to medical history. Medical history tells the physician about underlying conditions and the results of previous medical interventions. When medical history, the facts about a patient, are not known - clinical judgement and not evidence guides care decisions.

A comparison - a baseball player who gets a hit one out of every three times at bat over the course of a season - well, that player would be a national hero.

A doctor, on the other hand who is forced to care for the uninsured mostly on an emergency basis, and gets the decisions about care right one out of three times, would be a national disgrace.

No doctor wants to deliver a baby when the first time the doctor sees the mother is when she is already in labor.

I will work to devise a health care system for this country in which everyone gets the health care they need.

I am in favor of health care for all.

There are many reasons that our current Congress is having such a difficult time devising a plan to fix, excuse the play on words, the ills within the health care delivery system in modern America.

One reason is the profits that drive the current system. If you are an investor in health care stocks you have done very well, the returns on your investment, even in the down-turn have been substantial. Of course, those profits and dividends were earned, in part, by denying policy holders access to needed health interventions.

Though admittedly harsh, such profits suggest a higher value being placed on money than on human health.

The mother who died leaving four children because she had to decide betweeen feeding her family or paying for her high blood pressure medicine, suggests to me, that there is a problem with our health care delivery system.

After the currrent storm about what we the people of the United States ought to do about giving every American access to the highest standards of healht care has passed. And, a more sober debate ensues, I believe that a reasonable, a fair and equitable plan will be devised - we will reach a consensus.

There is a new spirit emerging in this nation, one that remembers the preamble to our association '... to provide for the general welfare'.

We will come through this storm - there is a brighter day.

The Environment

While our concern has centered on ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, all of which have exceeded health limits; particulates - tiny specks emitted from burning fuel – pose a far more deadly danger. I will work to set a standard of no more than 50 microns of the smallest and deadliest particulates for every cubic meter of air, because there is an alarming 1 per cent increase in deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases for every 10 microns of particulates in the air above this level.

In our desire for more fuel efficient cars either internal combustion or electric, we must not be blind to the amount of particulate matter emitted in the production of the vehicles and batteries, as well as in their use. If we truly desire clean air we must take the total pollution signature into account.

I will work to conserve, protect and expand our state and national parks, national forests, and other wilderness areas, as well as our lakes, rivers, seashores, wetlands, and fisheries. I am in favor of using license fees such as those for fishing to conserve, protect and expand places for the American people to engage in and enjoy ecologically sound fishing.