© 2004 by Oxford University Press
© 2004 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
Presidential Candidates Weigh In on Health Issues
The 2004 U.S. presidential election has been focused on international policy, military service records, and domestic programs. So far, neither candidate has discussed cancer research specifically, so we contacted the campaigns to find out what each candidate has in store for cancer research and policy. Both candidates declined to answer. So we have assembled their opinions on several key issues ranging from science and medicine to health care as found on their Web sites, in public statements, and from interviews in other publications.Senator John F. Kerry Democrat
- NIH funding: As a senator, Kerry supported the doubling of the NIH
budget from the start in 1998. "I will support consistent, sustained
growth to expand NIH biomedical research, invest in health promotion and
disease prevention, and strengthen the ties between NIH and other R&D
agencies," Kerry told the journal Science
(305:46–52).
- Prescription drugs: Kerry has called for an end to the loopholes in
patent law that allow pharmaceutical companies to keep generic drugs off the
market. He supports letting Medicaid and the states negotiate with drug
companies for better prices. Kerry has also called for transparency rules for
pharmacy benefit managers so that consumers might see if the discounts from
bulk purchasing are being passed down to them. He supports legislation that
would allow drug reimportation.
- Medicare: Kerry supports giving seniors a choice of health plans but
opposes privatization that causes reductions in benefits and opposes forcing
seniors into HMOs to get drug benefits.
- Insuring the uninsured: Kerry has proposed expanding public
insurance programs, providing tax credits to help people buy insurance, and
letting people buy coverage through the Congressional Health Plan, giving them
the same range of options that members of Congress have. These proposals would
insure an estimated 26.7 million currently uninsured Americans.
- Science education: Kerry supports "investing in K-12 math and
science education, rewarding colleges for increasing the number of science and
engineering degrees, and creating state-of-the-art online learning
technologies that allow hardworking American workers to get high-quality
training and education at a time, place, and pace that works for them,"
according to his Web site.
- Peer review in science agencies: "Competitive peer review is
at the heart of our highly successful federally supported R&D
programs," Kerry told Science. He has criticized
"pork-barrel" awards in appropriations bills and believes there
are better ways to build research capabilities in communities and institutions
with low levels of research funding.
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Kerry's Web site is http://www.johnkerry.com.
President George W. Bush Republican
- NIH funding: The doubling of NIH budget, approved in 1998, was
completed under Bush's presidency. "The FY2005 program level for NIH is
$28.8 billion, an increase of $764 million (2.7%) over FY 2004, which is
greater than the... estimated rate of inflation," Bush told
Science.
- Prescription drugs: Bush created a prescription drug benefit for
Medicare in 2003, which will take effect in 2006. He opposes direct government
negotiation of drug prices and supports relying on competition among private
plans to control drug costs. Bush signed a law last year maintaining the ban
on importing prescription drugs.
- Medicare: Bush supports an increased role for private health care
plans under Medicare, and he supported increasing payments to private plans
that contract with Medicare. He also supports increased competition between
private health plans and the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program.
- Insuring the uninsured: Bush established tax-free health savings
accounts for people to use to purchase private insurance. He plans to propose
a tax credit for contributions into those accounts, and he proposes
establishing tax credits to help low-income families and individuals to
purchase insurance. His proposals call for allowing small businesses to join
forces to negotiate on behalf of their employees and for expanding community
and rural health centers. An estimated 11 million to 17.5 million people would
be newly insured under this plan.
- Science education: Bush has proposed $100 million in grants to
low-income students who study math or science at colleges and universities,
according to his Web site. In addition, he has proposed incentives to invite
math and science professionals to teach part-time in high schools.
- Peer review in science agencies: "Peer review criteria for
federal programs are clearly established prior to submission of proposals and
the panel of experts is selected to ensure fair evaluation," Bush told
Science. He supports the use of "transparent investment
criteria" to make decisions on where investments are likely to yield the
best returns for the country.
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Bush's Web site is http://www.georgebush.com.
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