NASHVILLE, Oct 7, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Healthcare reform advocates say
they're hoping the major-party U.S. presidential nominees will start talking
more about insurance and cost issues.
As U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., were preparing to
meet Tuesday night in Nashville for their second presidential debate, the issues
of U.S. residents without health insurance and reducing costs in the healthcare
system have been pushed into the background because of the global credit crisis
and energy prices, Politico, a Washington publication, reported.
A September poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicated the economy was
considered the top issue by 56 percent of respondents, with the Iraq war second
at 25 percent and healthcare third at 21 percent.
But those hoping to get healthcare back onto the front burner say the Nashville
debate's town-hall-style format may allow for more questions on the subject,
Politico said.
"There's some concern in some corridors that, given the current economic state
of our budget and the economy overall, taking on healthcare may be just too
much, too big. I would argue exactly the opposite," Ken Thorpe, executive
director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, told Politco.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International