Healthcare

By: Laura, Gabby, Juliana, and Lauren       **__ Healthcare__**  Healthcare is a very important issue right now. We need to choose a candidate that will solve this healthcare problem. By this I mean a president that would lower the prices of healthcare and make it available to all Americans. The government covers a little over one-quarter of the population through health care programs for the elderly (Medicare), disabled (Social Security), military service families and veterans (VHA), children (SCHIP), and the poor (Medicare). Federal law ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. However, some people say this requirement has contributed to a health care “safety net” that is difficult to find money to pay for. ( __ [|select2008]  )__

**__I. What are the issues?__**
 *  Healthcare is a very good thing but it can also be very expensive. This expensiveness is causing 47 million Americans to be uninsured with healthcare [|(usnews).]
 * Healthcare is a huge problem right now since the prices are rising 4 times faster than wages. Also, the cost of healthcare has gone up 91 percent from 2001-2007. [|(americanprogress).]
 *  The Government's roles in healthcare are to the hold the income of the money for healthcare and also to pay the bills for the people who can’t afford healthcare. But people are questioning whether or not the government has too much power over healthcare. [|(hbs.edc)]
 *  People who don't have the money to pay for medical treatment don't have to pay a dime, but this just makes it more expensive for the people who can pay for healthcare, because in a way they are paying for the people who can't afford it [[ [|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102100882.html]\|(Washington Post;]] [|nybooks).]

** __II. What are the specific policies being discussed in the campaign?__ **

It is important for both Obama and McCain to make healthcare affordable to everyone; and both of the candidates have a plan to do this (uspolitics). Both candidates are opposed to requiring mandates for healthcare. [|(cnn.com)]A mandate is a command to act or do something in a certain way. (dictionary) Another hot topic is the requirement for all children to have healthcare insurance. [|(nytimes)]Both of the candidates have promised to insure 45 million Americans without healthcare insurance. (businnessweek) These topics are being addressed because healthcare has become so expensive that the middle class Americans are concerned about affording healthcare. [|(usnews)]Healthcare hasn’t been this bad since the early 1990s; it's obvious that something has to be done. [|(usnews)]  [|(KaiserCommission.com)] ** __III. What are McCain and Obama's positions on the issue?__ **

__**Obama**__ >
 * To require all children to be covered with health insurance; his main goal is universal coverage. [|(nytimes)]
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Would make a national health insurance program, which would be for people who aren’t covered by their employer. (cnn.com).
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">When president, he would allow Americans under 25 to go by their parent's healthcare plan. [|(cnn.com)]
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Out of all of the issues of the country, healthcare is priority number 2, because he beleives bad healthcare system is affecting both families and businesses. [|(cnn/politics)]
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Obama would let people who like their healthcare plan keep it and the prices of their healthcare would go down $2,500 per year. [|(barackobama)]<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">"If you have health insurance, then you don't have to do anything. If you've got health insurance through your employer, you can keep you health insurance, keep your choice of doctor, keep your plan." - Obama during the Finall 2008 Debate [|(debates)]    <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> **__McCain__** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">   ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">For the people who are not covered by their employers, McCain would give them a $2,500 tax credit and a $5,000 tax credit to families. [|(uspolitcs)] <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">McCain wants to make healthcare saving accounts bigger and will help bring small businesses together and talk about lower rates with healthcare providers. [|(cnn.com)]
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">McCain would let Americans who are moving from job to job or from state to state to keep their healthcare plans. [|(johnmccain;]uspolitics)
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">    <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">McCain would move people’s health insurance to an open-market so they could choose from other policies. [|(johnmccain)]

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> **__Dissagreements and Agreements:__**

Obama and McCain both disagree and agree on the issue of healthcare. Some of their agreements are that they both are opposed to the idea of mandates for healthcare. [|(cnn.com)] They also agree on the greater use of generic drugs and electronic records. [|(cbsnews)] Some disagreements between the candidates are that McCain wants to give more choice of healthcare to families while Obama wants to give more power to the government. [|(Heritage)] McCain strongly disagrees with the idea of giving more control over healthcare to the government. [|(gop.com)] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">media type="youtube" key="IKNpHTmd8LE" height="344" width="425"[|-(Youtube.com)] **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 17pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> __Stem Cell Research:__   **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 17pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> <span style="COLOR: #0f0b0b; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #0f0b0b; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Stem cell research is a relatively new technology that takes primitive human cells and develops them into most any of the 220 varieties of cells in the human body, including blood cells and brain cells. (advanceusa) Some scientists and researchers have great hope for stem cell research and its ability to uncover treatments and possibly even cures for some of the worst diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, (   <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">[|sciencedaily] <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">)            <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="COLOR: #0f0b0b; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> Embryonic stem cells are mostly used for developing tissue that cannot be replaced by damaged cells. ( [|Stem cell basic], [|NIH] ). <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">These cells are found in everyone’s body ( [|NIH] ), <span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> and become “a sort of repair system for the body, ( [|NIH] ) Stem cells are used to find what toxic effects medicines have, ( [|Chicago Tribune] ) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> In ten years,              <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="COLOR: #0f0b0b; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 110%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> scientists could use stem cells to “make transplant tissue for certain patients” with Lou Gehrig’s disease. ( [|Chicago Tribune] ) Top Diagram from: [|restoring-hope] Bottom Diagram from:  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">[|www.reeve.uci.edu]

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">** __What is the government's role in stem cell research?__ **
<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">The government plays one of the most important roles in this issue. The bill to financially support stem cell research passed in the Senate, but in 2005, President Bush threatened to veto it. ( [|CNN] ) The bill was then changed and passed in Congress. This bill “would use federal money to study stem cells taken from adults and umbilical cord blood, instead of using human embryos." ( [|CNN] ) However, limited federal funding is available for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush dicided that federal money could only be used to study stem cell lines that existed as of August 9, 2001. There are several problems with this:

> > > <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Peoples oppinions on stem cell research: > > Poll From: [|thinkprogress]
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> There are only 22 lines that qualify for this and less than twelve of these are easily available to scientists.
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> These cell lines are not diverse, most of them are of similar ethnicity, educational background, income level, etc. Diversity in the cells would help scientists better understand and treat many more diseases and individuals than they can with these limited cell lines.
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"> Since these cell lines got their nutrients from animal cells, they will never be safe to use in treatments for people.
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Some of these cell lines aren't stable enough to be used in experiments. ( [|americansforcures] )

__What social problems fall within this issue?__
One big social problem is how different religions handle stem cell research. President Bush says that “ many people are finding that the more they know about stem cell research, the less certain they are about the right ethical and moral conclusions." ( [|White House]) Catholics support stem cell research in forms of adult and umbilical cord stem cell research, but they oppose embryo stem cell research. ( [|Catholic]).   __Democrat and Republican Veiws on Stem Cell Research__ <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Republicans are mostly against stem cell research. They are against stem cell research because of the religious purposes. (   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">[|Newsbatch.com] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">The Bible clearly supports the battle against physical ills but only wants physical healing to cure it, clearly not using stem cells. ( <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">[|Got questions]  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">) Democrats are mostly for cloning and stem cell research and want it to continue to grow. They want the technology to grow as well as medical research because it will help stem cells cure diseases. ( <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">[|Newsbatch.com]  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> ) Graph from [|Newsbatch.com] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> __**The Candidates views on Stem Cell Research**__ Barack Obama and John McCain both mostly have the same outlook on Stem Cell Research. They believe that we owe it to the American public to explore the potential of stem cells to treat the millions of people suffering from devastating and life-threatening diseases. ( __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #0066cc; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> [|geneveith] ) __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> Obama had addressed that stem cells will be able to treat: <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings"> ü Diabetes <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings"> ü Blindness <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings"> ü Spinal Cord Damage <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings"> ü Kidney Damage <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings"> ü Alzheimer’s __ barackobama) __ ( [|bloggingstocks)] || <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As we know now, McCain wants the federal government to support the research, but his running mate Sarah Palin opposes the work. [|(advanceusa)]Palin's opinion on stem cell research is that it is wrong and the Federal Government should not fund the research. Therefore, there has been some controversy and some people ask if they are a good team since they don't agree on this topic. [|(USA Today)]
 * [[image:http://pewforum.org/religion08/images/3-thumb.jpg width="60" height="75" caption="external image 3-thumb.jpg" link="http://pewforum.org/religion08/profile.php?CandidateID=3"]] || **John McCain** || McCain opposes embryonic stem cell research that uses cloned human embryos. In 2006 he supported a trio of U.S. Senate bills designed to increase federal funding for adult stem cell research, ban the creation of embryos for research and offer federal support for research using embryos slated for destruction by fertility clinics. In 2007, in what he described as "a very agonizing and tough decision," he voted to allow research using human embryos left over from fertility treatments. ( <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">[|johnmccain]) ||
 * [[image:http://pewforum.org/religion08/images/4-thumb.jpg width="60" height="75" caption="external image 4-thumb.jpg" link="http://pewforum.org/religion08/profile.php?CandidateID=4"]] || **Barack Obama** || Obama supports relaxing federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. He voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which was vetoed by President Bush. The bill would have allowed federal funding to be used for research on stem cell lines obtained from discarded human embryos originally created for fertility treatments.
 * [[image:http://pewforum.org/religion08/images/4-thumb.jpg width="60" height="75" caption="external image 4-thumb.jpg" link="http://pewforum.org/religion08/profile.php?CandidateID=4"]] || **Barack Obama** || Obama supports relaxing federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. He voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which was vetoed by President Bush. The bill would have allowed federal funding to be used for research on stem cell lines obtained from discarded human embryos originally created for fertility treatments.
 * [[image:http://pewforum.org/religion08/images/4-thumb.jpg width="60" height="75" caption="external image 4-thumb.jpg" link="http://pewforum.org/religion08/profile.php?CandidateID=4"]] || **Barack Obama** || Obama supports relaxing federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. He voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which was vetoed by President Bush. The bill would have allowed federal funding to be used for research on stem cell lines obtained from discarded human embryos originally created for fertility treatments.

Videos
[|Obama-]

[|McCain-]

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">[|http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A17992317] Change 0 of 0 [|<< First] [|< Previous] [|Next >] [|Last >>]