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Cynthia McKinney on Health Care

Possibly the largest domestic issue in 2008, health care is a problem that is universally recognized and answered with a diversity of prescriptions from the candidates. Private versus government funded health care and the definition of "universal" care split the candidates across their respective policies. This topic includes information about candidate positions on: universal health care, privatization of health care, government support for health care through tax incentives, and employer assistance in obtaining health care.

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The issues

Cynthia McKinney strongly supports universal health care which provides access to health care regardless of ability to pay

"In Congress, I was a cosponsor of every bill to create a national system for universal access to health care under a single-payer model."

Green Party 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire Feb 3, 2008

"All too often patients cannot receive the treatment they require because the treatment is blocked by the profit motive of the insurance companies. You have to take the insurance companies out of the health-care equation. We in the United States spend far more money than any other country in the world and we get less. Close to 50 million people are uninsured. Countries that have what others pejoratively call "socialized medicine" are better performing. We need a universal, single-payer health-care system in this country."

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Since last fall, McKinney has campaigned in 30 states on the slogan "Power To The People" and a platform that calls for single-payer universal health care.

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Recognizing that private, for-profit health insurance is a central cause of our failing health-care system, McKinney uncompromisingly calls for a universal, single-payer "Medicare for all" health-care system in the United States.

Chicago Tribune Issues Comparison

Cynthia McKinney strongly supports increased government spending on health care

"In light of an economy that produces jobless growth, it is imperative that America's priorities be recalibrated to place a priority on people and not on war. In addition, I support providing an understandable and cost efficient prescription drug benefit to all Americans who need it."

Campaign website, www.cynthiaforcongress.com, "Issues" Dec 20, 2007

Cynthia McKinney strongly opposes a market-based, for-profit approach to providing more Americans with health care

"I am against any form of health care rationing or the use of a voucher-based system of health insurance."

Campaign website, www.cynthiaforcongress.com,

Cynthia McKinney strongly supports taxpayer-financed health care for all children under the age of 18

"I believe it is imperative to expand programs such as Medicaid and SCHIP [State Child Health Insurance Plan] to cover all uninsured Americans in the United States."

Campaign website, www.cynthiaforcongress.com, "Issues" Dec 20, 2007

Cynthia McKinney strongly opposes addressing the healthcare shortage primarily through providing tax deductions and incentives for the uninsured to purchase private health insurance

Voted NO on subsidizing private insurance for Medicare Rx drug coverage

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Cynthia McKinney opposes requiring American employers to cover a significant portion of the health care costs of their employees

"McKinney supports a nonprofit single-payer system like Medicare, the federal program which serves about 50 million elderly Americans, that would insure every American. That would swiftly improve the lives of the 47 million people without insurance, 70 percent of whom have jobs, but no employer-provided health plan. Expanding Medicare would also help the 17 million people under age 65 who are under-insured, meaning the cost of their health-care coverage, the co-pays and deductibles, forces them to forgo filling prescriptions, seeing a physician, and getting medical tests or treatment."

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