A champion of affordable programs that help cover high-risk patients and pre-existing conditions, Hadley also supports allowing out-of-state insurers to compete in California as well as offering health plans that appeal to consumers, not the mandated whims of government bureaucrats.
Few issues united the Republicans on stage like their disdain for public health mandates. "I happen to have great faith in the ability of people to make decisions of their own," said Ose, who spoke with the technical knowledge of a longtime lawmaker and, at times, a table-pounding indignation. "Instead of giving people mandates, we need to give them options."
Elizabeth Emken: Government-run health care is not the solution. Consumers must be more directly involved in decisions about services to provide the market forces that will drive down costs presently skewed by government intervention in the health care system.
Elizabeth Emken: Obamacare. It's not health care reform, it's poorly written health insurance reform and it needs to repealed. We do need genuine changes to our health care system, but the role of government is to set fair rules and serve as an honest referee.
Lightfoot selected, "Part of the solution".
Lightfoot added, "Everyone benefits when good research leads to wiser decisions about health maintenance."
Q: How important is research and development (R&D) to your state's economy?
Lightfoot selected, "Very important."
Please comment on the importance of the federal government's role in supporting R&D conducted in your state.
Lightfoot stated, "Such research and development is best performed by business and industry, not by government. Governments are there to keep the peace so individuals can follow their ideas and dreams improving all our lives with new ideas and products via the marketplace."
A: Repeal the current health care legislation. In the end, involve the private sector more than any tax supported government sector. Government should be last resort safety net only not a solution for everyone. Return control to local agencies and encourage volunteer organizations with tax exempt status and tax credits for time or money contributions to keep the private charitable organizations strong. Individually, we are responsible for ourselves, our families and our communities. We cannot pass the buck to some higher government agency because it sounds easier. We have to step up and take care of ourselves first, our families second and our communities through volunteer efforts. Contributing time and money to the well-being of our communities.
Few issues united the four Republicans on stage like their disdain for public health mandates. "I happen to have great faith in the ability of people to make decisions of their own," said Doug Ose, who spoke with the technical knowledge of a longtime lawmaker and a table-pounding indignation. "Instead of giving people mandates, we need to give them options."
Despite being infected with COVID early on in the pandemic, Cox said he opposed the governor's recent action to coax health care workers to get vaccinated. He also asserted that people who have already contracted the disease don't need the vaccine, contrary to guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A: Absolutely not. The most important thing we can do in this health care debate is talk about individual responsibility, personal responsibility. But I've got another solution for you. The situation in Utah is pretty darn good. We embarked upon health care reform. We did better than Texas, in terms of covering the uninsured, and we don't have a mandate. It allows the free market to create a marketplace of choices and options for people. I believe that once Obamacare is repealed--and it will be--the question will then be, what do we do now? In Utah, we approached cost-cutting, cost overruns, harmonizing medical records, and expanding the marketplace for choices and options for individuals to choose from, without a heavy-handed and expensive mandate that has cost the average family in Massachusetts $2,500.
Faulconer, who has long distinguished himself across California GOP-dom as a relative moderate, stressed that he and his entire family had been vaccinated and he encouraged everyone who hasn't been to get the jab, too. But encouragement is as far as the state should go. "I do not favor mandates, I favor education," he said. "You're not going to mandate your way out of the coronavirus."
A: Well, I think without a doubt, there's two that you look to. First of all are the new regulations that are just being put into place with ObamaCare. As I go across the country and speak to small business people, men and women, they tell me ObamaCare is leading them to not create jobs. ObamaCare is killing jobs. We know that from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. But I know it first-hand from speaking to people. We see it this summer. There are 47% of African-American youth that are currently without jobs, 36% of Hispanic youth. I'm a mom. I've raised five biological kids and 23 foster kids in my home. One thing I know is that kids need jobs. And ObamaCare is clearly leading to job-killing regulations, not job-creating regulations.
ROMNEY: One thing I'd do on day one if I'm elected president is direct my secretary of health and human services to put out an executive order granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states. It is bad law, it will not work, and I'll get that done on day one. Now, what we faced in our state is different than what other states face. In our state, our plan covered 8% of the people, the uninsured. One thing I know, and that is that what Pres. Obama put in place is not going to work. It's massively expensive. His plan is taking over 100% of the people, and the American people don't like it and should vote it down.
PERRY: It was a great opportunity for us as a people to see what will not work, and that is an individual mandate in this country.
Q: [to Romney]: You've said some things about the Massachusetts law worked; other things didn't work as well. On the individual mandate, the government saying that people have to buy health insurance--was that one of the things that worked in Massachusetts?
ROMNEY: One thing I'd do on day one if I'm elected president is direct my secretary of health and human services to put out an executive order granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states. It is bad law, it will not work, and I'll get that done on day one. Now, what we faced in our state is different than what other states face. In our state, our plan covered 8% of the people, the uninsured. One thing I know, and that is that what Obama put in place is not going to work. It's massively expensive.
ROMNEY: Our plan covered 8% of the people, the uninsured. ObamaCare is taking over 100% of the people.
Q: [to Perry]: Massachusetts has nearly universal health insurance. It's first in the country. In Texas, about a quarter of the people don't have health insurance. That's 50th out of 50. It's pretty hard to defend dead last.
PERRY: Well, I'll tell you what the people in the state of Texas don't want: They don't want a health car plan like what Gov. Romney put in place in Massachusetts. What they would like to see is the federal government get out of their business. For instance, Medicaid needs to be block-granted back to the states so that innovation will come up with the best ways to deliver health care. I'll promise you, we'll deliver more health care to more people cheaper than what the federal government is mandating today with their strings attached, here's how you do it, one-size-fits-all effort out of Washington, D.C.
PERRY: If we can get the federal government out of our business in the states when it comes to health care, we'll come up with ways to deliver more health care to more people cheaper than what the federa government is mandating today. That's got to stop. And I'll promise you: On day one, as the president, that executive order will be signed and Obamacare will be wiped out as much as it can be.
Q: Why are so many people in Texas uninsured?
PERRY: We would not have that many people uninsured in Texas if you didn't have the federal government. We've had requests in for years to have that type of flexibility where we could have menus, where we could have co-pays, and the federal government refuses t give us that flexibility. We know for a fact that, given that freedom, the states can do a better job of delivering health care. And you'd see substantially more people not just in Texas, but all across the country have access to better health care.
PERRY: I wrote a letter to Hillary and we were hoping that she would be able to come up with something that would not leave out the agriculture men and women--because I was the agriculture commissioner at that particular point in time. We had no idea it was going to be the monstrosity that's known as Hillarycare.
PAUL: Forcing 12-year-old girls to take an inoculation to prevent STDs, this is not good medicine & it's not good social policy.
PERRY: There was an opt-out in that executive order. I hate cancer. We passed a $3 billion cancer initiative to find, over the next 10 years, cures to cancers. Cervical cancer is caused by HPV [human papiloma virus]. We wanted to bring that to the attention of these thousands of young people in our state. We allowed for an opt-out. I don't know what's more strong for parental rights than having that opt-out. There's a long list of diseases that cost our state and cost our country. It was on that list. Now, did we handle it right? Should we have talked to the legislature first before we did it? Probably so. But at the end of the day, I will always err on the side of saving lives.
A: Theoretically, it could be privatized, but who ends up doing the regulations on the drugs? They do as much harm as good. They don't take good care of us. Who gets--who gets to write the regulations? The bureaucrats write the regulations, but who writes the laws? The lobbyists have control, so lobbyists from the drug industry has control of writing the regulations, so you turn it over to the bureaucracy. But you would have private institutions that could become credible. And, I mean, do we need the federal government to tell us whether we buy a safe car? I say the consumers of America are smart enough to decide what kind of car they can buy and whether it's safe or not, and they don't need the federal government hounding them and putting so much regulations on that our car industry has gone overseas.
PAUL: Just take the HPV [human papiloma virus]. Forcing 12-year-old girls to take an inoculatio to prevent this sexually transmitted disease, this is not good medicine, I do not believe. I think it's social misfit. It's not good social policy. And therefore, I think this is very bad to do this. But one of the worst parts about that was the way it was done. The governorship in Texas traditionally is supposed to be a weak governorship. I didn't even know they could pass laws by writing an executive order. He did it with an executive order, passed it. The state was furious, and the legislature, overwhelmingly, 90%, repealed this. But I think it's the way it was passed, which was so bad. I think it's a bad piece of legislation. But I don't like the idea of executive orders. I, as president, will not use the executive order to write laws.
| |||
| 2016 Presidential contenders on Health Care: | |||
|
Republicans:
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX) Carly Fiorina(CA) Gov.John Kasich(OH) Sen.Marco Rubio(FL) Donald Trump(NY) |
Democrats:
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY) Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT) 2016 Third Party Candidates: Roseanne Barr(PF-HI) Robert Steele(L-NY) Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA) | ||
|
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) | |||