Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Edwards Discusses Health Care Proposals in Campaign Speeches

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) this weekend "continu[ed] a push to court older voters" by saying in speeches that he would "stand up to these drug companies and stand up for the American people," the AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (Woodward, AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8/15). At a "front-porch chat" in Minnesota, Edwards said that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry's (Mass.) health care plan would lower prescription drug costs by allowing the reimportation of lower-cost, U.S.-made medications and negotiating lower bulk prices through Medicare, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Blake, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 8/15).

Kerry has proposed a plan that would cost about $653 billion over 10 years and would expand health coverage to an estimated 26.7 million U.S. residents. Kerry has said he would help finance the plan with the repeal of tax cuts for families whose annual incomes exceed $200,000. President Bush has proposed a plan that would cost about $90.5 billion over 10 years and would expand health coverage to an estimated 2.1 million residents (California Healthline, 8/13).

Edwards said, "As health care costs soar and the economy continues to drag, America's seniors and families struggle. Millions of Americans are being forced to choose between the food they need to survive and the drugs they need to feel better. These are not choices any American should have to make" (Baltimore Sun, 8/15). Edwards added that Kerry's health care plan would improve children's access to care, asking, "If all of our children are entitled to a good public education, why are they not also entitled to health care?" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 8/15).

Edwards on Sunday in Iowa questioned why Bush opposed efforts to legalize reimportation and patients' rights bills that are supported by voters but opposed by some industry groups, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. "It's just good old common sense, but it's being stopped by this administration and why? Because the drug companies don't want it. It's just about that simple," Edwards said (Glover, AP/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 8/16). He added that Bush is against a patients' bill of rights because "HMOs and the insurance companies are against it. Sooner or later, we're going to have a president who's actually looking out for most of the people in this country instead of the insurance companies" (Campbell/Jordan, Des Moines Register, 8/16).

Edwards also said that the government should provide consumers with clinical trial results of prescription drugs and comparisons of prescription drugs to over-the-counter medications, as well as enforce laws against prescription drug advertisements that can be misleading and cause an increase in prescription drug costs, the Star Tribune reports. "There is significantly more money spent by drug companies on advertising and marketing than on research and development," Edwards said (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 8/15). Edwards added that people should have access to the best available drug information and "also deserve to know the drugs they need will be affordable" (Baltimore Sun, 8/15).

Edwards in North Dakota told a crowd of about 2,800 people that drug companies' advertisements should include information about generic alternatives. "The American people need to know when there's a cheaper, equally good alternative," he said (AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8/15).

Brian Jones, a spokesperson for President Bush's re-election campaign, said, "John Kerry and John Edwards have no credibility when it comes to providing prescription drugs. Kerry and Edwards each opposed the first-ever prescription drug benefit under Medicare, with Kerry now saying he would repeal the bill" (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 8/15). Kerry last week said he would seek to revise the law (California Healthline, 8/12).

Jones said, "Once again, John Kerry and John Edwards are misleading voters, while President Bush, with his prescription drug benefit plan, has provided the biggest improvement in senior health care since Medicare was established" (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 8/15).

The Washington Times on Monday examined Edwards' 20-year history as a trial attorney in North Carolina, during which he won or reached settlements of $1 million or more in 31 medical malpractice lawsuits. According to the Times, Edwards has made millions by "pioneer[ing] the art of blaming psychiatrists for patients who commit suicide and blaming doctors for delivering babies with cerebral palsy."

The Times notes that the Kerry-Edwards medical malpractice reform platform includes requiring pre-screening of malpractice cases by medical specialists, which Edwards said in 1995 is "very good" as a concept, "but it's already done by every experienced malpractice lawyer."

Charlotte, N.C., neurosurgeon Craig VanDerVeer said, "The John Edwards we know crushed (obstetrics, gynecology) and neurosurgery in North Carolina." VanDerVeer added that the shortage of health care providers and rising health care costs in the state are "a direct result of the medical-malpractice situation that John Edwards fomented" (Hurt, Washington Times, 8/16).

Elizabeth Edwards in Wisconsin on Saturday "cheered" the Democrats' health care platform and "politely ripped" the Bush administration for being on the "side" of "companies with profit motives" and not on the side of "ordinary folks struggling to afford" health care, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (Schultze, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/14). Elizabeth Edwards, who appeared at a health care roundtable discussion at Milwaukee's St. Francis Hospital as part of her first solo trip of the campaign, told a group of five women that Bush is "protecting the profits of insurance companies and protecting the profits of the pharmaceutical companies" (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 8/16).

She said that Kerry's health care plan was only a start toward lowering health care costs and not "a perfect answer." She added, "[A]t least you know because (Kerry and Edwards) are committed to that fight, they are going to be committed to continuing the fight. That's the side they're on."

Elizabeth Edwards said she supported ending the limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and reiterated her husband's calls for FDA to provide consumers with comparative data on the efficacy of some prescription drugs to offset misleading information included in pharmaceutical advertisements, the Journal Sentinel reports. She added that it was "unconscionable" for Bush to discourage prescription drug reimportation by saying terrorists deliberately could contaminate reimported prescription drugs (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/14).

Both presidential candidates this week likely will address funding for veterans' health care at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati, with Bush scheduled to speak before the 2.6-million member group's delegates on Monday and Kerry set to speak Wednesday. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the convention delegates will "be most interested in what [the candidates have] to say about veterans' health care," as the group has been lobbying Congress to increase funding for a Veterans Affairs health care system they say is "underfunded, overworked and often unable to meet the needs of veterans," the Enquirer reports.

John Furgess, who later this week will take over as VFW's commander-in-chief, said his group is looking for the candidates to commit to supplying VA health care with mandatory funding so VA does not "have to compete with every other federal program for dollars." Kerry has said he supports mandatory funding. VA Secretary Anthony Principi has said Bush is willing to discuss the issue but is hesitant about supporting it, the Enquirer reports. Furgess said, "Health care is at the top of the agenda, always has been and always will be" (Wilkinson, Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/16).