September 14th, 2012 – With less than two months before the election, healthcare has become one of the top issues in the 2012 presidential campaign. Polling data shows that soaring healthcare costs and Medicare coverage for the elderly are two of the top campaign issues for voters.
Rising healthcare costs may present a challenge to both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in their battle for the White House. Thus far, neither candidate has stood up to the special interest groups (big-Pharma, hospitals, AMA, etc) that benefit from increasing healthcare costs. The Affordable Healthcare Act does very little to reduce the underlying health care costs that keep driving up insurance premiums.
Mitt Romney said he would keep some of the most popular parts of the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare), but said he would still repeal the law as one of his first acts.
“I’m not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course, there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I’m going to put in place,” Romney said on Meet the Press. Romney’s aides quickly added that only those who haven’t had a gap in coverage would not be denied coverage.
Romney called for restructuring Medicare by giving retirees a government payment that they would use to choose between traditional Medicare and private insurance.
President Obama has been highlighting his more popular position of keeping Medicare intact. The president highlighted a study showing that under Romney’s plan future retirees would pay tens of thousands more for healthcare over their retirement.
For a more complete overview of the positions of both candidates please see Romney on Healthcare and Obama on Healthcare.
