George W. Bush's position on

Health Care: With the population both aging and growing, affordable health care is an issue that concerns everyone, especially with 45 million individuals being uninsured in 2003 (AEI link)

Description of candidate's position: President Bush believes that the health care crisis is due to inflexible corporate control over health care, and the goal needs to be affordable health care for everyone. He plans on extending Health Saving Accounts (HSAs) as a tax credit for low-income individuals and families, as well as allowing across state shopping for health insurance. For businesses and faith-based groups, the president proposes Association Health Plans (AHPs) in order to allow these individuals to obtain better rates. Additionally, Bush has proposed to open or expand 1,200 health centers in underserved areas by 2006, as well as decreasing costs by increasing access for SCHIP within two years. Link Finally, he wants to eliminate frivolous lawsuits, through medical liability tort reforms and caps. Link

Quotation from the candidate: "What we can't afford to have happen in America is for the federal government to decide to run it all. That will not work. […] The federal government just cannot run the system as well as docs, professionals, administrators and patients can […H]ealth savings accounts [...] will be a really good vehicle to help control costs and to make sure patient and doctors are the center of the decision-making process in health care." May 27, 2004, presidential speech at Vanderbilt University on health care Link

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: The CATO institute, a conservative think tank, argues that HSAs are the best solution to medical problems, as it uses a free-market based solution. Link Devon M. Herrick, policy analyst on health care issues for National Center for Policy Analysis, says that HSAs not only empower individuals, but also help to decrease amount of uninsured, as according to an IRS pilot study, 73% of participants with HSAs were previously uninsured. NCPA policy paper Link

Negative: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, drawing on studies from MIT economists, Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Urban Institute, identifies key problems: funding (Bush administration is planning on financing the tax credits through cuts in existing programs), businesses cutting health care to employees as well as putting older and less healthy individuals at a disadvantage due to individualized nature of program, offsetting Medicare and SCHIP programs as states feel tax credits can be a "substitute" for those programs. And as many as 1.8 million people could lose coverage. Link

Comparison: Bush's strategy for reform of the health care system uses individual tax credits while Kerry advocates for a larger federal program on health care. Comparisons Link In terms of cost, Bush's proposal costs less but insures less people. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research recently completed a study on both candidate's health care proposals and found that Bush's plan will have 6.7 million more people insured, costing $128.6 billion (2006-2015) with $39.4 billion to the uninsured. Kerry's plan will have 27.3 million more people insured, costing $1.5 trillion (2006-2015) with $622 billion to the uninsured. Report link

Link to Kerry's issue page