Healthcare Revisited: Changes Coming?

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton
Joe Biden
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich

Barak Obama
Bill Richardson
Tom Vilsack
 
REPUBLICANS
Sam Brownback
John Cox
Rudy Giuliani
Duncan Hunter

John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Michael Charles Smith
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson
 
Beka - That’s the entire list of 2008 Presidential Candidates (with their Web sites) thus far. I’ve been scanning them, searching for information about healthcare views and potential changes that may or may not arrive after 2008. I see no mention about the role of NURSING. Why not? Are we not considered important? I see very little mention about universal healthcare, important to me personally, considering that I will be joining the 47 million Americans without healthcare coverage by June 2007. My COBRA benefits run out then as I work subject to dystonia (it still controls me) and how I feel on a daily basis.

I wonder what I will do after June 2007? Hope for a candidate to announce and implement major health insurance policy changes? Not enough time for the current President! The War in Iraq seems to be the predominant issue. We need to change that focus a bit. The nonprofit group, Act Up held a public rally in NYC last week demanding universal health coverage. Good for them! A few members got arrested.

Let’s be frank -- we, as nurses, need to be doing the same. Are we going to? And what do you think about the various candidates and their views on healthcare?