It's refreshing to hear a politician get to the damn point.
At noontime today, that is exactly what John Kerry did on the issue of healthcare:
What we're really seeing with health care today is a slow-motion Katrina that's ruining lives and bankrupting families all over the country.
He defines the problem in three points:
To get there we must tackle three major challenges--spiraling costs, shrinking coverage, and uneven quality.
This reminded me of the three points he made on the Iraq War: Tell the truth, fire the incompetents, get out of Iraq.
After the jump, he defines the solution in four points:
John Kerry gave a speech on healthcare today in Faneuil Hall in Boston. He laid out his goals and principles in four short points and those points came in the second pargraph of the speech:
Today I will set out a health care plan that I believe must be a centerpiece of our purpose and promise to the nation. here are the goals and principles of this plan:
ONE - Every American, and I mean everybody, must have health coverage by 2012.
TWO - To get there, we start with kids first. They're born, they're enrolled in health care. They go to child care, they're enrolled. They go to school, they're enrolled. No "ifs," "ands," or "buts," every child gets health care - automatically, immediately, every child in America gets health care now.
THIRD - We must and will control the skyrocketing premiums, co-pays, and exclusions that make a mockery of the insurance hard-working families pay for month after month. No longer will families be pushed into bankruptcy by medical bills they can't pay --no longer will sons and daughters have to choose between paying for a doctor's bill for one child or college tuition for another - it is time to finally guarantee that as health care costs are held down, Americans get the health care they need and deserve.
FOURTH and finally, instead of telling tens of millions to wait until they are sick enough to go to an emergency room, we must and will assure high quality and preventive care for every American.
There was much more to this speech. It was, after all a speech, not a soundbite. He did a nice job of slamming one to Wal*Mart:
Companies like Wal-Mart have adopted a totally different strategy--use workers until they get sick, don't cover them for check-ups, and then tell them they're on their own. The nice person who greets you at Wal-Mart's door is shown the door when illness strikes.
and the Republicans got a smackdown:
Medical debts have become the single leading cause of bankruptcy in America today.
If we don't change this, who will?
I'll tell you who won't: George Bush and his Republican Congress, which is why we can start by changing Congress this fall.
The Bush administration is "A slow-motion Katrina."
Kerry nails it exactly right. Again.
Here's a link to the full text of the speech.