Subject: [big campaign] FW: Elizabeth Edwards' Statement on "Cheap Shots"
From: "Adam Jentleson @ American Progress Action" <[email-masked]>
To: "big campaign" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:49:09 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

FYI

________________________________

From: Center for American Progress Action Fund
[mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 1:03 PM
To: Adam Jentleson @ American Progress Action
Subject: Elizabeth Edwards' Statement on "Cheap Shots"

 

<http://images1.americanprogress.org/il80web20037/dia/John/wonk%20room.b
mp>   

For Immediate Release
April 21, 2008

Contact
John Neurohr, 202.481.8182 
[email-masked] 

Elizabeth Edwards On Health Care: 'This Is Not A Cheap Shot; It Is
Potentially Life And Death'
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/21/elizabeth-responds-cheap-s
hot/> 

Our guest blogger is Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Presidential
candidate John Edwards and soon-to-be IOP Fellow
<http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522783>  at the Harvard
Institute of Politics.

John McCain accused me of taking a "cheap shot
<http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-elizabeth-edwards-claim-a-cheap
-shot-2008-04-20.html> " on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos
<http://www.abcnews.go.com/thisweek> " yesterday for noting that people
with preexisting conditions like him and me would not be able to get
health care under his plan -- and that he perhaps was not as sensitive
to this problem as he should be since he has been in government health
care his whole life.

Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for
the six years he was in captivity. That is true. But it has nothing to
do <http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15278.html>  with my
point - which is that the problem with Sen. McCain's health care plan is
not how it affects us -- but how it affects the tens of millions of
Americans with preexisting conditions who, unlike Sen. McCain and me, do
not have the resources to pay for quality health care.

That is not a cheap shot, it is a potentially life and death question
for tens of million of Americans. And it is a question Sen. McCain must
address.

McCain's health care plan is centered around the idea that we'd be
better off if more Americans bought health coverage on their own, rather
than receiving it through a job or government program. But maybe since
he has never purchased insurance in the individual market, he does not
know the challenge it presents
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/category/raa/>  for Americans with
preexisting conditions.

A recent study showed that nearly nine out of every ten people
<http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_
id=402531>  seeking individual coverage on the private insurance market
never got it. Insurers will disqualify you
<http://www.calnurse.org/media-center/in-the-news/2007/january/page.jsp?
itemID=29216324>  for just taking certain medicines because of the
possibility of future costs, including common drugs as Lipitor, Zocor,
Nexium, and Advair. People who have had cancer are denied coverage and
those who get cancer run the risk of simply being dropped
<http://cbs4.com/national/Health.Net.Inc.2.661090.html>  by their
insurer for any excuse that can be found. And insurers make it a
practice to deny coverage
<http://www.calnurse.org/media-center/in-the-news/2007/january/page.jsp?
itemID=29216324>  to individuals in high risk occupations, such as
firefighting, lumber work, telecom installation, and pretty much
anything more risky than working in an office.

McCain opposes universal health care because he claims it represents a
"big government takeover and mandates." But yesterday, he said he would
help cover people with preexisting conditions by creating a "special
Medicaid trust fund."

A "special Medicaid trust fund?" Talk about a big government take over.
Tens of millions of Americans have preexisting conditions. If he is
going to expand Medicaid to cover Americans with preexisting conditions,
he is talking about a massive, massive increase in the Medicaid program.
He says he opposes more government involvement in health care, but his
idea really would be government-run health care.

My questions is: why is he doing this? If he is so concerned about
expanding government's role in health care, why doesn't he just tell the
insurance industry that they have to cover people with preexisting
conditions? Why is he more concerned about protecting the insurance
industry -- an industry which, by the way, his corporate tax cut plan
gives a $1.9 billion tax cut
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/09/mccain-tax-health-insurers
/>  to -- than the tens of millions Americans with preexisting
conditions?

McCain's advisors still can't say
<http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04/03/mccain_camp_worki
ng_out_healthcare_details/?page=1>  how this special Medicare trust fund
will work. I gather we will find that out when Senator McCain gives a
speech on health care later this month. Rest assured, I will be paying
attention.

About the Center for American Progress Action Fund

The Center for American Progress Action Fund
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/>  transforms progressive ideas
into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action,
grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other
progressive leaders throughout the country and the world. The Action
Fund is also the home of the Progress Report and ThinkProgress.

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20005-4707 United States

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