Huckabee, McCain at Divided We Fail forum
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2007
SIOUX CITY -- As Americans wrestle with whether they'll have enough financial resources in retirement and can afford health care, two Republican presidential candidates said answers typically lie in incentives and tax policy changes.
Speaking at the Divided We Fail forum highlighting financial security and health-care issues Thursday evening, Mike Huckabee and John McCain said the federal government shouldn't be moving toward nationalized health care, but incenting ways to make people more likely to pursue wellness. If that happened, both candidates said, the spiraling cost of health care could be brought down.
Former Arkansas governor Huckabee said, "We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis." Huckabee pointed to actions taken to promote wellness when he was governor, including a $500 incentive for those who got annual screenings and paying for the full cost of smoking cessation programs.
There is concern about double-digit inflation in health care costs annually, McCain, said, so it behooves health insurance companies to change from primarily covering the cost of doctor visits and medicine.
McCain noted that only 23 percent of Americans are confident they'll retire financially comfortably. In order to turn that around, McCain said there needs to be an expansion of health savings accounts, 401K retirement accounts and reform to the tax code.
While they bemoaned the looming financial crisis in the Social Security retirement program, both candidates gave few specifics on how they'd fix it. Both McCain and Huckabee said raising the payroll tax that goes into Social Security is a last resort, and they agreed that voluntary private accounts within the program should be an option.
Moderated by Iowa Public Television's Dean Borg and with questions from Journal readers relayed by editorial page editor Mike Gors, the 90-minute event went off before 700 people in the downtown Orpheum Theatre.
In early July, AARP announced the kickoff of the Divided We Fail Together We Can Do Anything campaign, which is designed to put financial security and health-care issues before the presidential candidates when they run in states with the earliest presidential contests.
Read more of this story Friday in the Journal's print edition and online at www.siouxcityjournal.com
Speaking at the Divided We Fail forum highlighting financial security and health-care issues Thursday evening, Mike Huckabee and John McCain said the federal government shouldn't be moving toward nationalized health care, but incenting ways to make people more likely to pursue wellness. If that happened, both candidates said, the spiraling cost of health care could be brought down.
Former Arkansas governor Huckabee said, "We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis." Huckabee pointed to actions taken to promote wellness when he was governor, including a $500 incentive for those who got annual screenings and paying for the full cost of smoking cessation programs.
There is concern about double-digit inflation in health care costs annually, McCain, said, so it behooves health insurance companies to change from primarily covering the cost of doctor visits and medicine.
McCain noted that only 23 percent of Americans are confident they'll retire financially comfortably. In order to turn that around, McCain said there needs to be an expansion of health savings accounts, 401K retirement accounts and reform to the tax code.
While they bemoaned the looming financial crisis in the Social Security retirement program, both candidates gave few specifics on how they'd fix it. Both McCain and Huckabee said raising the payroll tax that goes into Social Security is a last resort, and they agreed that voluntary private accounts within the program should be an option.
Moderated by Iowa Public Television's Dean Borg and with questions from Journal readers relayed by editorial page editor Mike Gors, the 90-minute event went off before 700 people in the downtown Orpheum Theatre.
In early July, AARP announced the kickoff of the Divided We Fail Together We Can Do Anything campaign, which is designed to put financial security and health-care issues before the presidential candidates when they run in states with the earliest presidential contests.
Read more of this story Friday in the Journal's print edition and online at www.siouxcityjournal.com
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