Dennis Kucinich's Approach to Health Care

Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich takes a unique approach to fixing our country’s health care crisis. The congressman in a health care forum this week said he wants a health care system that is sort of like Medicare coverage for everyone: a single-payer non-profit health care system.

Kucinich, as he stated in the online health care forum, co-authored a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR676) that would create a large-scale health care system in the United States to provide Medicare coverage to everyone who qualifies and currently does not have health care insurance. He claimed in the forum to have 83 congressmen who have signed on to support his plan.

When it comes to discussing universal health care plans that are supported by candidates like Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, Kucinich raises the classic and very legitimate argument of how to afford their plans. With the United States budget and debt looming large, Kucinich questions whether the government can afford to provide health insurance for everyone in the manner Clinton and Edwards recommend and whether their plans are truly feasible for the American public. He states in the forum that even if everyone is required to have health insurance under the Clinton or Edwards’ plans, there likely would be high deductibles and co-pays which would keep most people away from using the system.

Overall, Kucinich does seem to have a valid plan that is gaining support in Congress. He’s the only presidential candidate so far to have a plan in place and is actively trying to move it through Congress to become law.