Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Recent Presidential Campaign News
[Jul 23, 2007]

Newspapers recently reported on the presidential campaigns of several candidates. Summaries of the coverage appear below.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.): Clinton on Sunday at the Miami Beach Convention Center called for universal health care and tuition assistance for children of undocumented immigrants and said she would work to pass immigration reform if elected president, the McClatchy/Contra Costa Times reports (Reinhard, McClatchy/Contra Costa Times, 7/23).

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.): Edwards' wife, Elizabeth Edwards, in Oklahoma on Thursday spoke about her husband's universal health care proposal, saying he "believes in the dignity of each of us" and uses that belief as the foundation of his policy positions, the Daily Oklahoman reports. She also discussed her experiences with the U.S. health care system and her cancer and said "every single American" deserves health coverage. Edwards noted that her husband's health care proposal would require health plans to cover pre-existing medical conditions. "A health insurance policy that doesn't cover cancer does me no good," she said (Mock, Daily Oklahoman, 7/20).

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.): Obama on Sunday at the Miami Beach Convention Center said if elected, he would work to pass immigration reform, the McClatchy/Times reports. Obama called for universal health care and tuition aid for children of undocumented immigrants. He also said both black and Hispanic children disproportionately are uninsured and have less access to high-achieving public schools (McClatchy/Contra Costa Times, 7/23). Obama on Friday said he is planning a rural policy summit in Iowa next month to focus on economic development, quality of life and other issues, the AP/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. Obama said problems such as health care access, low wages and failing school systems must be addressed, as well as problems unique to rural areas (Lorentzen, AP/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 7/22).

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas): The New York Times Magazine on Sunday profiled Paul, who has an "unusual" combination "of radical libertarianism and conservatism." According to the Times Magazine, Paul "will not be the next president," but his campaign has served "as a clearinghouse for voters who feel unrepresented by mainstream Republicans and Democrats" (Caldwell, New York Times Magazine, 7/22).

A webcast of Paul discussing health care issues with Jackie Judd, a Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and the Foundation's senior adviser for communications, is available online at health08.org.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.): Romney on Sunday in New Hampshire criticized Obama's health care proposal and Clinton's economic policy, the AP/Baltimore Sun reports. Romney said, "Barack Obama said we're going to have the government take over health care. He at least had the integrity to say he wants to raise your taxes." He added, "The right answer is not a government takeover, it's not socialized medicine. It's not Hillarycare." Separately, at a Sunday town hall meeting, Romney said, "I don't want the guys who ran the [Hurricane] Katrina cleanup running my health care system" (AP/Baltimore Sun, 7/23).