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MSN Money
(Accessed 11/2/04)
Bush, Kerry and the great health-care divide
By Philipp Harper
They receive about half as much medical care as the rest of us, and as a result get sicker faster and die younger.
They’re the 44 million Americans who this year will live their lives without the benefit of a health insurance safety net. How they’re regarded by their fellow citizens could be one of the key turning points of the upcoming presidential election.
The question is simple: Do they represent a vexing cost or an unprecedented investment opportunity?
The candidates have voiced their opinions and they couldn’t be in sharper contrast.
At its most basic, the debate over health care is about how large a role the federal government should have in our economic lives. As such, it crystallizes like few other issues the philosophical divergence between Republicans and Democrats.
The fact that a new revenue source would have to be found to pay for the out years of the Kerry health plan has Republicans screaming “tax and spend.” What that label ignores, however, is that federal spending to promote a healthy population may constitute an investment rather than an expense.
Some voters will view that spending as an investment leading to a fine return, others as a confiscatory tax. Which viewpoint holds sway could well determine who occupies the White House for the next four years.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourhealth/P95373.asp
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