Post by novillero on Oct 15, 2008 15:34:23 GMT -5
for those people that think that either is worth voting for, here is something that you may want to read (and later download the podcast when it becomes available on Friday):
Rutgers Scholars Analyze McCain, Obama Health Plans
By Beth Fitzgerald
10/10/2008
A panel of six Rutgers scholars discussed the health care plans from presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama this morning during a forum at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy on the New Brunswick campus. There was a general consensus from the panel that while the plans differ significantly, both call for significant spending—at a time when the next president's fiscal options will be severely constrained by the huge government deficits being racked up to fight the global financial crisis.
Republican McCain stresses individual choice when it comes to medical care options while Democrat Obama defines health care as a right that stops short of universal, government-directed health care.
A podcast of the three-hour forum, "Health Care Reform and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election" will be available for viewing on the Bloustein Web site after Oct 17 at policy.rutgers.edu/podcast.
David Mechanic, director of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, pointed out that it's politically difficult to lower costs by restricting access to expensive procedures that haven't been found to improve patient outcomes.
"It's a tradeoff between having large numbers of people uninsured, and having a universal system which treats everyone fairly and where there are restrictions," Mechanic said. "The candidates understand that there is a tremendous difficulty in getting the public to accept these limits."
Several panelists noted that employers now receive almost $200 billion a year in tax deductions for providing health care coverage, and that about 60 percent of Americans get health coverage through their employers.
Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers, pointed out that in order for employers to qualify for the tax deduction, they must provide insurance without discrimination, which means these employer-sponsored pools include young and old, sick and healthy, and thus spread the risks and help make these plans more financially stable.
The panelists included Allison Blake, director of the Institute for Families at the Rutgers School of Social Work; Alan Monheit, professor at both Rutgers and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Cliff Zukin of the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics and Alan Rosenthal, also of Eagleton.
The panel was sponsored by Rutgers, UMDNJ and AARP New Jersey.
www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aid=76237
Rutgers Scholars Analyze McCain, Obama Health Plans
By Beth Fitzgerald
10/10/2008
A panel of six Rutgers scholars discussed the health care plans from presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama this morning during a forum at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy on the New Brunswick campus. There was a general consensus from the panel that while the plans differ significantly, both call for significant spending—at a time when the next president's fiscal options will be severely constrained by the huge government deficits being racked up to fight the global financial crisis.
Republican McCain stresses individual choice when it comes to medical care options while Democrat Obama defines health care as a right that stops short of universal, government-directed health care.
A podcast of the three-hour forum, "Health Care Reform and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election" will be available for viewing on the Bloustein Web site after Oct 17 at policy.rutgers.edu/podcast.
David Mechanic, director of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, pointed out that it's politically difficult to lower costs by restricting access to expensive procedures that haven't been found to improve patient outcomes.
"It's a tradeoff between having large numbers of people uninsured, and having a universal system which treats everyone fairly and where there are restrictions," Mechanic said. "The candidates understand that there is a tremendous difficulty in getting the public to accept these limits."
Several panelists noted that employers now receive almost $200 billion a year in tax deductions for providing health care coverage, and that about 60 percent of Americans get health coverage through their employers.
Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers, pointed out that in order for employers to qualify for the tax deduction, they must provide insurance without discrimination, which means these employer-sponsored pools include young and old, sick and healthy, and thus spread the risks and help make these plans more financially stable.
The panelists included Allison Blake, director of the Institute for Families at the Rutgers School of Social Work; Alan Monheit, professor at both Rutgers and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Cliff Zukin of the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics and Alan Rosenthal, also of Eagleton.
The panel was sponsored by Rutgers, UMDNJ and AARP New Jersey.
www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aid=76237