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Presidential candidates Biden, Giuliani discuss Health Care

October 30, 2007--Summaries of recent developments in the presidential campaign related to health care appear below.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.): Biden on Friday at a Manchester, N.H., forum sponsored by Divided We Fail, a campaign launched by AARP and other groups that seeks to focus the 2008 presidential election on health care and financial security issues, discussed his health care proposal, the AP/Wilmington News Journal reports.

According to Biden, the proposal, which would cost between $80 billion and $110 billion annually, would not require U.S. residents to obtain health insurance.

He said, "Americans will not accept mandates," adding, "America is not prepared for that to happen. You will never get it passed. We are different and independent in a way that other countries aren't." In addition, Biden said that a provision in the proposal under which the federal government would cover 75% of catastrophic health care costs -- medical bills that exceed $50,000 -- would reduce health insurance premiums for companies and individuals.

Biden also promoted a provision in the proposal that would allow individuals between ages 55 and 64 to pay to participate in Medicare (Ramer, AP/Wilmington News Journal, 10/27).

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R): Giuliani on Monday released a new radio advertisement to promote his health care proposal in which he discusses his experience with prostate cancer, Long Island Newsday reports (Thomas, Long Island Newsday, 10/30).

In the ad, which will begin to air on Tuesday in New Hampshire, Giuliani says, "I had prostate cancer, five, six years ago. My chance of surviving cancer, and thank God I was cured of it, in the United States: 82%," adding, "My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England: only 44% under socialized medicine" (Campanile, New York Post, 10/30). He adds that his health care proposal would lead to a "market of 50, 60 million Americans buying their own health insurance, without a mandate" and that the "cost of health insurance will come down and the quality will come up" as a result. Under the proposal, families could receive tax deductions of as much as $15,000 to purchase private health insurance.

In addition, Giuliani in the ad criticizes health care proposals offered by Democratic presidential candidates as "socialized medicine." He says, "Government has never been able to reduce costs. Government never increases quality," adding, "We have the best health care system in the world. We just have to make it better" (Curl, Washington Times, 10/30).