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Jack Carter on Health Care

 


Support individual states enforcing their coverage standards

US Senate Bill 1955 would allow small business groups to pool their memberships across state lines to obtain group health coverage. Under the legislation, the federal government would take away the powers of individual states to enforce minimum coverage standards for health insurance. Officials in Nevada and other states would be powerless to protect consumers' rights in the health care arena. It only makes matters worse and threatens the benefits many people already rely on.
Source: Carter for Nevada campaign website May 21, 2006

Consider single-payer, forced insurance, & pooled insurance

Q: What is your position on a Singer Payer health care system?

A: That's one alternative. There are a couple of programs that I've seen including the Single Payer. One has just come out of Massachusetts where you force everyone to buy health insurance. It's certainly a good idea. There's another one out of Oregon. The state takes whatever money it's been spending on health care-and this is all of it, including their share of Medicaid, Medicare and the rest of it-and they take all of that money and they basically buy an insurance premium for everybody in the state, in the lines of the way the school system works, where the state guarantees K-thru-12. Whatever money we can have to spend on health care, we buy an insurance premium, and it will do all the basic things. Around the edges, exactly what it covers, is going to be determined by how much those things cost, but that's another idea about making our health care system more efficient, because the real problem here is its efficiency.

Source: Quality News Network interview with Jack Carter May 1, 2006

Establish universal healthcare standards, like in education

If elected to the Senate, Carter said he plans to focus on immigration, health care, education and Iraq. "We need some sort of universal standard for health care, just like a universal standard for education," Carter said. "There should be some basic coverage for everyone. It should be modeled after the public education system."

Carter explained that with the public education system, people have the choice to go to a public school or to a private school at their own expense. With a health care system similar to education, people would have the choice to go to a no-cost medical center or to a private doctor at their expense.

Source: The Rebel Yell (UNLV newspaper) Apr 13, 2006

Medicare plan is written by and for the drug companies

The Medicare drug plan is also in the paper. My mother-in-law, Miz Jane, is 85. She lives in Summerlin. Elizabeth and I received her letter describing 40 different choices of drug programs. After spending hours trying to figure it out ourselves, we finally had to ask our pharmacist to help us choose the right course.

This is an example of laws written by and for the drug companies. It's contorted, complex and unreasonable-geared to enhance profits. There is a specific provision that forbids Medicare to use its sheer size to negotiate lower drug prices. Why? The Veterans Administration uses its own buying power to achieve drug prices about 45% cheaper than medicare. The two chief architects of the proposal left for major positions in the pharmaceutical industry as soon as the law passed. I believe we can provide our seniors with a comprehensive, simple drug package. ALL WE NEED IS A RETURN TO OUR AMERICAN VALUES AND NEW LEADERSHIP.

Source: Campaign announcement speech Feb 7, 2006

Other candidates on Health Care: Jack Carter on other issues:
NV Gubernatorial:
Jim Gibbons
Kenny Guinn
NV Senatorial:
Harry Reid
John Ensign

2004 Presidential:
Pres.George W. Bush
Sen.John Kerry
Ralph Nader

2008 possibilities:

Sen.Hillary Clinton
Sen.John Edwards
Sen.Russ Feingold
Rudy Giuliani
V.P.Al Gore
Sen.Barack Obama
Sen.John McCain


2006 Senate retirements:
Jon Corzine(D,NJ)
Mark Dayton(DFL,MN)
Bill Frist(R,TN)
Jim Jeffords(I,VT)
Paul Sarbanes(D,MD)
2006 Senate Races:
(AZ)Kyl v.Pederson
(CA)Feinstein v.Mountjoy
(CT)Lieberman v.Lamont v.Schlesinger
(DE)Carper v.Ting
(FL)Nelson v.Harris
(HI)Akaka v.Thielen
(IN)Lugar v.Osborn
(MA)Kennedy v.Chase
(MD)Cardin v.Steele v.Zeese
(ME)Snowe v.Bright
(MI)Stabenow v.Bouchard
(MN)Kennedy v.Klobuchar
(MO)Talent v.McCaskill
(MS)Lott v.Fleming v.Bowlin
(MT)Burns v.Tester
(ND)Conrad v.Grotberg
(NE)Nelson v.Ricketts
(NJ)Menendez v.Kean
(NM)Bingaman v.McCulloch
(NV)Ensign v.Carter
(NY)Clinton v.Spencer
(OH)DeWine vBrown
(PA)Santorum v.Casey
(RI)Chafee vWhitehouse
(TN)Ford v.Corker
(TX)Hutchison v.Radnofsky
(UT)Hatch v.Ashdown
(VA)Allen v.Webb
(VT)Sanders v.Tarrant
(WA)Cantwell v.McGavick v.Guthrie
(WI)Kohl v.Vogeler v.Redick
(WV)Byrd v.Raese
(WY)Thomas v.Groutage
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