Healthcare

Healthcare

I am the only candidate on the record in support of Single Payer.

• Per capita we spend $7,410; Canada $4380; UK $3285. (World Bank numbers. PNHP has U.S. at $8160.) We pay almost double, BUT life expectancy is lower, infant mortality rate higher, and we fare worse on other health indicators. AND over 50 million people are uninsured. Why do we pay more for less? Because 31% of every dollar goes to administrative waste. My father is a retired physician (internal medicine) and my mother is a retired RN—administration takes doctors and nurses away from what they do best, treating and healing patients.
• Single Payer Healthcare is Pro-Business and an Instant Job Creator. If we decouple health coverage from employment, we will significantly reduce the cost of doing business, for all businesses. As a small businessperson and as someone who represents many small businesses (and medium and large ones as well) across various sectors, I know that if businesses did not have to worry about covering the cost of health insurance, they would hire more employees. Furthermore, entrepreneurs would flourish if we cut the strings of health insurance that tie people to jobs that are the wrong fit. If people were freed from the worry of health insurance coverage, they would be free to create, invent, start new ventures, and restart the engine of American business.
• GOP scare tactics will talk about "government doctors and rationing". Single-Payer is NEITHER. Doctors remain private, and $400 billion saved every year by eliminating waste would cover comprehensive care for all. Anyone who thinks we do not already ration our healthcare has not been to an ER or clinic lately or tried to get an appointment with a doctor. Plus, leaving 17% of our population uninsured IS healthcare rationing.
• No cuts to Medicare. If we had good healthcare for the first 65 years of our life, we would see Medicare costs come down significantly.

Stem Cell Research

I support Stem Cell Research. We are decades behind in the cutting edge research that could save and improve lives. While politicians dither, people are dying of diseases that might be cured or delayed with stem cells.