Health care and its availability and cost are thought to be the number one issue for voters in this presidential election. I doubt the accuracy of any poll but it is a major issue for this country. How can you assess a candidates position. There is plenty of information on the Democrats and scant written information on the Republicans, but Romney has a track record as a Governor. I haven’t read much of other party’s candidates as I don’t think they have much chance of being elected and doubt they will influence the debate much.

I have decided to read as much as possible on each candidates position on this issue and then summarize it here. I am going to use the criteria established by two people published and available on line and in print media.

First is Dr. Eric Steele who was published in the Bangor Maine Daily News on 26 Sep 06. He suggests asking 6 questions which I will summarize here.

“1. Is the plan comprehensive?

2. Does the plan have specifics, about how to insure people, how to improve the health of our people and how to rein in the rate of cost increases?

3. Does the plan cost money?

4. Does the plan include some pain for everyone?

5. Have the candidate’s proposed solutions to any of the problems in health care been tried somewhere else, and if so, where was that and what - specifically - were the results?

6. Can the candidate actually answer difficult and complex questions about the plan with difficult and complex answers?”

The second is a set of questions posed by Matt Miller on 9 Aug 07 online in TIME. He proposes just 3 questions.

“1. Should the government ensure that every American has basic health coverage? the answer should be yes

2. Do you believe individuals’ buying their own solo health insurance can be the answer to the problem of the uninsured? based on insurance today that answer has to be no.

3. Do you support limiting a family’s annual exposure to medical costs to some reasonable percentage of its income? the answer must be yes.”

So, what is your opinion on health care? Do we need a change? How do you think it should be paid for? Weigh in with your opinion in the comments section. I look forward to this project.

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