January 8th, NH’s day to speak out on the Presidential race, is right around the corner. I look forward to proudly voting for Senator Barack Obama in the primary. I have been following his campaign for months, attending three events, volunteering at his most recent event in Berlin, writing postcards and letters to the editor, and blogging on barackobama.com. Senator Obama has given me hope and inspiration for a brighter future for America, the world and, most importantly, for my two young children.
One of the issues which I think is very, if not most, important to a lot of us is health care. I think Senator Obama has a great plan to lower health care costs and ensure affordable, high-quality health care for all. Unlike Edward’s and Hillary’s plans, Senator Obama’s plan does not mandate everyone to buy insurance they might not be able to afford. Senator Obama believes the reason people don't have health care is because they can't afford it, not because they don't want it. That's why his plan goes further in cutting costs than any other plan that's been offered in this race by up to $2,500 a year for the typical family. By making health care affordable, Senator Obama's plan will cover every American.
Senator Obama’s plan will provide affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for all Americans by: making available a new national health program that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health care similar to that available to federal employees; making available a National Health Insurance Exchange to reform the private insurance market; ensuring all of the 9 million currently uninsured children have affordable, high-quality health coverage; expanding Medicaid and SCHIP and ensuring they continue to serve their critical safety net function; requiring employers to make a meaningful contribution to the health coverage of their employees; and requiring that insurance plans accept all applicants and do not charge different prices based on pre-existing conditions.
Senator Obama’s plan will reduce costs and save a typical American family up to $2,500 each year by: driving adoption of state-of-the-art health information technology systems; improving access to preventive care and chronic disease management programs; requiring hospitals to collect and report healthcare cost and quality data; reforming our market structure to increase competition in the insurance and drug markets; reducing the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees; and lowering drug costs by allowing importation of safe medicines from other developed countries and increasing uses of generics in public programs.
Since many of the plans that are being offered in this race would be vast improvements over what we have now, the real question is who can stand up to the special interests (health insurance and drug companies), bring Republicans and Democrats together, and actually make their plan a reality? Senator Obama is in the best position to do that, because he's been standing up to the special interests and bringing people together throughout his career.
I am proud that Senator Obama has led a positive campaign of hope, respect, and honesty, and has focused on the issues that are most important to the American people. This election, it’s not just about changing parties, it’s about nominating the most electable Democrat in the primary. In head-to-head match-ups, recent polls have shown that Senator Obama is the only Democrat that polls ahead of all of the Republican candidates. Please vote on January 8th. Your vote does make a difference. Thank you.
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