As Good As Its People: on Health Care

Jimmy Carter: Supports national health insurance

Let me outline for you some of the goals of the next administration in the area of health [insurance]:
• We must have a comprehensive program of national health insurance.
• We must have government reorganization that will end the bureaucratic fragmentation that now frustrates any hope for a rational and effective national health care policy.
• We must encourage alternative delivery systems such as HMOs and rural group practices.
• We must clean up the disgraceful Medicaid scandals.

Jimmy Carter: Supports more funding for education & research

Let me outline for you some of the goals of the next administration in the area of health [education and research]:
• We must stress health and nutrition education. Our public schools could do more to teach our young people the dangers of drinking, smoking, using drugs, overeating, and eating the wrong kinds of food.
• We must mount a renewed attack on cancer and other diseases caused by toxic chemicals in the environment.
• We must continue and expand biomedical research and be sure that it serves the health needs of all our people.
• We must encourage nursing home standards of safety, sanitation, and care, and we must encourage programs that will serve elderly people in their own homes whenever possible.
• Finally, we must, by scholarships, by loans, and by other means, provide medical education to more students, for minority and low-income families and also to more women, and we must encourage young health professionals to train and practice in rural and inner city areas.