As the November election nears, and as lines are drawn and positions are locked in, it is important to take the time to review where candidates stand on certain issues. Knowing what a presidential hopeful plans to implement when he takes his place in the Oval Office makes you more informed--and your vote more powerful.

Resources

Healthcare Traveler's Staffing Solutions has reviewed the written health care policy plans of Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry. In the following pages, we present a condensed version to help you assess which candidate better serves your ideals and goals.

Senator John Kerry Born in Colorado and raised in Massachusetts, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) graduated from Yale University and served two tours of duty during the Vietnam Conflict, earning a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and Combat V, and three purple hearts. He then graduated from Boston College Law School and worked as a prosecutor in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He served as Massachusetts' Lieutenant Governor and is now in his fourth term as a U.S. Senator.

Kerry believes that affordable, high-quality health care is needed to keep American families "healthy, our businesses competitive, and our country strong." He considers health care a right and not a privilege. Kerry's proposed health care initiatives would reportedly "lower family premiums by up to $1,000 a year, cut waste from the system, lower the cost of prescription drugs to provide real relief to seniors, and use targeted tax cuts to extend affordable, high-quality coverage to 95 percent of Americans, including every child."

Creating a healthy America

His health plan would cost about $653 billion over 10 years, extending coverage to 26.7 million U.S. residents. It promises to provide government subsidies for the cost of catastrophic health care expenses, reducing costs to employers and employees by approximately 10 percent. Kerry and running mate Senator John Edwards (D-SC) also recommend extending state-based programs that will pick up the full cost of coverage for the more than 20 million children enrolled in Medicaid. In return, "states would expand coverage for families up to 200 percent of poverty and for childless adults up to 100 percent of poverty."

One of the biggest bullet points in the Kerry-Edwards plan is the proposition to provide all Americans access to the same coverage that members of Congress give themselves. Kerry has said he will fight to "erase the health disparities that persist along racial and economic lines, ensure that people with HIV and AIDS have the care they need, end discrimination against Americans with disabilities and mental illnesses, and ensure equal treatment for mental illness in our health system."