2008 Symposium

Surveying the Landscape: Examining Health Care Reform Proposals of Leading Presidential Candidates

Cokie Roberts of ABC News and National Public Radio led a stimulating discussion of health reform platforms involving representatives from the campaigns of the three remaining major-party candidates for President. Those representatives were:

• Katherine Hayes, J.D., from Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign
• Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ph.D., from Sen. John McCain's campaign
• Kavita Patel, M.D., from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign

Hayes said she believes Sen. Clinton's proposal is consistent with the Mayo Clinic principles, and that her goal is quality, affordable coverage for everyone. Dr. Holz-Eakin said what is different about reform this time is that health care is the number one issue among voters. Every candidate has had health reform as part of the platform. Dr. Patel said the Obama plan requires transparency of results.

Three expert panelists also joined the discussion and helped to provide context:

• Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post
• Elizabeth McGlynn, Ph.D., RAND Health
• Karen Davis, Ph.D., The Commonwealth Fund

Pearlstein said the first thing we need to do is get the candidates to agree that "we're gonna do this" in the next four years. He gave the example of the base-closing commission; we need to commit that we will start a process and live by it. He said the current situation is like a WWI battlefield, in which everyone is dug in and protecting turf.

Dr. McGlynn said her one "non-negotiable" is that quality needs to be part of the consideration; most of the debate has been about access so far. Dr. Davis focused on the broad agreement among the candidates on some basic principles, and said the most important need is national leadership. That's why she's optimistic, because all of the candidates are talking about health reform.

For more on this discussion, including links to the candidates' specific reform plans, visit the Mayo Clinic Health Policy blog.

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