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WONK WARS.
- Late last week, John Edwards released his plan to prevent abuses in the health insurance industry. The plan would require insurance companies to sell insurance to everyone regardless of preexisting conditions, institute a “community rating” system that charges subscribers equitably, require insurers to spend at least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care, create a patient bill of rights, and guarantee comprehensive benefits like preventive care. The plan also includes measures to increase enforcement of existing regulations and make the market for private insurers more competitive.
- Barack Obama released his plan to increase opportunities for Americans with disabilities, which includes fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, under which the federal government promised states that it would fund 40 percent the “excess cost” of educating children with disabilities, and increasing the coverage and effectiveness of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The plan also sets the goal of universal screenings for potential problems in newborns, and promises investments in early intervention educational and developmental programs for children from birth to age five, support for vocational rehabilitation programs in secondary schools, greater access to higher education, and improved job opportunities.
- Rudy Giuliani put out a statement on school choice, outlining his plans to establish a federal school voucher program to help “students trapped in failing schools” change schools, expand charter schools, provide grants to families with special needs students to allow them to select a public or private school for their child, and create scholarships so that military families can select schools for their children. Nothing that actually addresses concerns about improving the quality of public schools in there, shockingly.
- Bill Richardson gave a speech to the Green Xchange Global Conference in Los Angeles calling for a new American energy doctrine which included a lot of the ideas outlined in his new book, Leading by Example: How We Can Inspire an Energy and Security Revolution. Richardson’s energy policy was also the only plan to get an “A” on the report card recently issued by energy and environment guru Terry Tamminen.
—Kate Sheppard
COMMENTS (2)
Yes, it's not shocking that Giuliani doesn't have specific proposals for improving public schools-- he doesn't care about them.
But, the voucher argument goes that by giving students a choice in school that they can attend, public schools would have to shape up and produce better results or the teachers/principals/etc. would be out of jobs (if every student chooses a different school, they have no students). Right now, there is no free-market reason for schools to get better, but if more people could have choice in the matter, public schools would have to compete as private schools do.
I think it's a better idea to do it with tax credits, as Ron Paul has introduced, but it's maybe worth trying anyway.
Posted by: Libertarian Girl | December 12, 2007 3:48 PM
Fools all. Bush is right. STOP illegals from getting health care. Also, stop illegas or non illegals 25+ years old from getting child insurance. Amen. Bush is cute. Kerry is not. Clinton is a fool. Obama is most probably a musilizim type person in disguise.
Posted by: asd | December 12, 2007 9:20 PM