Edwards' wife pushes universal health care

McCain's proposal is inadequate, she says

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 01, 2008

RALEIGH

Elizabeth Edwards linked the nation's sagging economy to its struggling health-care system yesterday as she joined an effort in battleground states to discredit the health-care proposals of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The wife of former Democratic candidate John Edwards is battling incurable cancer but she returned to the political arena to push for mandatory universal health care for all Americans, a requirement that would drastically change a system that has left 47 million Americans without insurance.

Missing from the advocacy effort is Edwards' husband. John Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, dropped out of the race for his party's nomination and endorsed Obama but then admitted to an extramarital affair, making him unwelcome in Democratic political circles.

Elizabeth Edwards said during a conference call yesterday that medical bills often lead to foreclosure, a primary factor in the crippled housing market that has led to the demise of several Wall Street firms.

"Reform of our health-care system is a very important part of the answers we're going to need to solve our economic woes," she said.

Mandatory universal health care goes a step further than Obama's plan, which requires coverage only for children.

But Edwards took aim only at McCain's ideas, saying that his proposal to give a tax credit for health care doesn't deal with the fundamental problems with the system. He would pay for the credit by removing tax breaks for employers that offer insurance, which Edwards said would increase the tax burden for the average family.

"Sen. McCain's health care plan is truly a radical health care plan," she said. "It's rooted in free-market ideology, but it is nothing related to actually being free because it's going to cost the American public at every turn." McCain supports a $5,000 annual tax credit to help individuals and families afford health insurance. However, that could lead employers to drop their current plans, including some that could not be replaced for $5,000.

McCain appears to acknowledge that his health-care plan would result in higher taxes for some, even though he says that they would likely be among the wealthiest Americans.