Presidential Candidates Take Last Chance to Address Health Care in USA Today Op-Eds
As voters on Nov. 7 decide who will be the next president of the United States, USA Today's Forum Column provided Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) and Vice President Al Gore one last opportunity to explain why they should be elected. Both candidates addressed health care in their columns.
- George W. Bush: "I believe seniors should have a better Medicare system, with prescription drug coverage and more control over their health care. My proposed plan makes prescription drugs affordable for every senior in America and enables seniors to stay in the current system or choose a plan that serves them best. Every senior will get help paying for prescription drugs, and low-income seniors will get prescription coverage for free. My plan also has a $6,000 cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses" (Bush, USA Today, 11/7).
- Al Gore: "Let's move forward on health care by passing a real patients' bill of rights, so doctors and families make the medical decisions, not insurance companies. Let's provide access to quality health insurance to every child in America by 2005, because no parents should have to worry themselves sick over a bill every time a child gets sick. ... Let's move forward with a prescription drug benefit for all of our seniors under Medicare. My plan lets them keep the insurance they already have, and lets them choose their own doctor and their own local pharmacy. What we can't have is a false prescription drug plan that doesn't provide help to millions of middle-class seniors for the first four or five years, and would eventually force them to go to HMOs and insurance companies. That's the plan on the other side and it's a bitter pill to swallow" (Gore, USA Today, 11/7).
