State of the Union address: on Health Care
George W. Bush:
Health savings accounts with choice of coverage
Starting this year, millions of Americans will be able to save money, tax-free, for their medical expenses in a health savings account. I signed this measure proudly, and any attempts to limit the choices of our seniors
or to take away their prescription drug coverage under Medicare will meet my veto. On the critical issue of health care, our goal is to ensure that Americans can choose and afford private health care coverage that best fits their individual needs.
Source: 2004 State of the Union address to joint session of Congress
Jan 20, 2004
George W. Bush:
100% tax deduction for catastrophic health insurance
On the critical issue of health care: I ask you to give lower-income Americans a refundable tax credit that would allow millions to buy their own basic health insurance. By computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes & reduce
costs. We must eliminate wasteful and frivolous medical lawsuits. And tonight I propose that individuals who buy catastrophic health care coverage, as part of our new health savings accounts, be allowed to deduct 100% of the premiums from their taxes.
Source: 2004 State of the Union address to joint session of Congress
Jan 20, 2004
George W. Bush:
Government-run health care is the wrong prescription
A government-run health care system is the wrong prescription.
By keeping costs under control, expanding access and helping more Americans afford coverage, we will preserve the system of private medicine that makes America’s health care the best in the world.
Source: 2004 State of the Union address to joint session of Congress
Jan 20, 2004
Tom Daschle:
More people without insurance under Bush
Our opportunity society is built on the belief that affordable, available health care is not a luxury but a basic foundation for a truly compassionate society. Today, 43 million Americans-almost all of them from working families-have no health insurance.
That’s over 3 million more than when President Bush took office. Those Americans lucky enough to have health insurance have seen their premiums go up each of the last three years. The increase in premiums that middle-income families have seen over the
past three years is actually larger than the four-year tax cut that they’ve been promised. This is an invisible tax increase on middle- class families.
Tonight, the president acknowledged that the rapidly rising cost of health care and the increasing
number of Americans with no health coverage are problems. But the tax cuts he proposed are not a solution. Tax cuts will do little to make health care more affordable, and they will weaken health coverage for those who have it now.
Source: Democratic Response to the 2004 State of the Union address
Jan 20, 2004
Tom Daschle:
Allow more affordable drugs via Canadian imports
We believe that the federal government should use the power of 40 million Americans to lower prescription drug prices and to allow us to get more affordable drugs from Canada, instead of forbidding both.
Drug companies and insurance companies are the only ones who benefit from that restriction, not the American people, and that’s why we want to change it.
Source: Democratic Response to the 2004 State of the Union address
Jan 20, 2004
Page last updated: Feb 23, 2019