Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Democrats See a New Urgency in Health Care
New York Times feature story [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free]. - "Ten years after the political collapse of President Bill Clinton's health plan, the Democratic Party's presidential candidates are proposing, once again, major new programs for guaranteed, affordable health insurance, setting the stage for one of the starker contrasts with President Bush in the general election campaign. The nine candidates for the Democratic nomination disagree, often sharply, on how they would expand coverage, how they would pay for it, whose plan would work best and how many of the more than 43 million uninsured Americans they would try to reach. But beneath these disagreements is a consensus that a health care crisis of soaring costs and declining coverage has returned..."  [Editor's note - From time to time, readers will find links here to news stories and articles on proposals and positions put forth by various political candidates. The inclusion of such material is not intended to advocate for or against any particular candidates or views, and should not be understood as such, but rather as part of an effort to distribute information of interest to readers and to help contribute to the overall quality of discourse on issues related to mental health. - BD]  
  

Democrats: HHS spins health report
Atlanta Journal-Constitution story - "Eight congressional Democrats charged Tuesday that the Department of Health and Human Services watered down a report by its own scientists that cited racial and ethnic disparities in health care. In a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, they said the revisions 'alter the report's meaning, undermine efforts to address disparities, and fit a pattern of the manipulation of science by the Bush administration.' HHS scientists said in their June 2003 draft summary that the inequalities are 'national problems' that are 'pervasive in our health care system' and carry a significant 'personal and societal price.' The final report, released Dec. 23, included none of those conclusions..."