California Healthline Summarizes Recent Announcements from Democratic Presidential Candidates
California Healthline features recent health care-related announcements by three Democratic presidential candidates. Summaries of the announcements appear below.
- Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D): Dean on Monday at a senior center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, unveiled a proposal to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, the Des Moines Register reports. The proposal would allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada, establish prescription drug formularies that favor less-expensive medications, increase access to generic medications and provide states with more flexibility to enact programs to reduce prescription drug costs (Okamoto, Des Moines Register, 10/14). The proposal also would ban direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements except in "situations where there is a compelling public health justification" and would require pharmaceutical companies to disclose gifts to health care providers, the AP/Manchester Union Leader reports. "We must make prescription drugs affordable for all Americans," Dean said (Glover, AP/Manchester Union Leader, 10/14). He added, "There is no evidence that Canadian drugs are inferior in any way to U.S. drugs. Our citizens should be permitted to realize the substantial savings of purchasing drugs by mail order from Canadian pharmacies" (Des Moines Register, 10/14).
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio): Kucinich on Monday in the Cleveland City Council chambers formally announced his candidacy for president and reiterated his support for a universal health care system in the United States, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Kucinich said that he would reduce the defense budget to fund health care and other programs (Chancellor, Akron Beacon Journal, 10/14). He also promoted his health care proposal at Wayne County Community College in Detroit on Monday (Hunter, Detroit News, 10/14).
- Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.): Lieberman on Monday released a 73-page document that outlined economic and tax proposals he would support if elected president, the Hartford Courant reports. The document includes a proposal that would reduce federal expenditures to the rate of inflation for all programs except Medicare, Social Security and defense (Lightman, Hartford Courant, 10/14).