Kerry accuses Bush of ignoring rising health care costs

EDINBORO, Pa. -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Monday hailed his health-care plan as the prescription for cutting soaring premiums and reducing fraud and waste, calling the system under President Bush "badly broken."

Focusing on health care in a weeklong swing to battleground states, Kerry complained that insurance companies are posting record profits while consumer costs and the expense for employers have reached crisis proportions.

"Our health-care system is badly broken," Kerry told nursing students at Pennsylvania's Edinboro University. "Today, regular checkups are emptying family checkbooks. Waiting for a doctor's bill is causing as much anxiety as waiting for a diagnosis. And cutting through endless red tape and paperwork is wasting millions that could be spent on better care."

The campaign offered statistics to back up the candidate's complaints: Total family premiums have risen more than $2,700 in four years, a rate Kerry said was four times faster than that for workers' earnings.

The average American family pays nearly $10,000 a year for a policy, his campaign said, more than those in any other country. U.S. employers have responded by slowing hiring and shifting work to part-time and temporary employees, according to the campaign.

"It's not acceptable to do nothing while families lose their savings, workers lose their jobs, and businesses close their doors because of the high cost of health care," Kerry said. "We need a president who knows our health care crisis isn't acceptable and who has a plan to fix it."

The Democrat's campaign began in Erie, Pa., a state that offers 21 electoral votes and narrowly went for Al Gore in 2000. Kerry then heads to Kentucky (eight electoral votes, comfortable Bush win in 2000) and Florida (27 electoral votes, razor-thin Bush victory) before wrapping up in Little Rock, Ark., with its six electoral votes and a close Bush win four years ago.

At each stop, Kerry will be joined by health care workers and those who have struggled with paying for care. On Monday, Albert Barker, 61, who lost his health insurance after suffering a heart attack, was singled out.

"I have met too many people like the Barkers," Kerry said. "Hardworking families struggling under the weight of their medical bills."

The Massachusetts senator has offered a health care plan that calls for repealing Bush's tax cut for Americans making more than $200,000 annually, and using the money to bolster health care. He would have the federal government assume the costs of the most catastrophic cases, a step he says would relieve health insurance costs for both businesses and workers.

Kerry did not spell out a new policy but released a study he said shows that the nation's health care crisis has grown to a point where it's not simply a social issue, but has become a drag on the economy. Soaring health care costs have forced businesses to cut back on workers and trim other investments.

Kerry is launching his effort in a carefully coordinated national push. Democratic National Committee officials planned events with key surrogates around the country, and the Kerry campaign released a new Web video to supporters, showing Bush in January 2000, saying: "I'll have the goal, the idea of making sure people have got affordable health care and insurance policies to make sure they're able to pay for them."

The video then claims, "Under Bush, family premiums have increased $2,777" and "Bush has no plan to lower rates."

In a conference call with reporters sponsored by the Bush-Cheney campaign, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., criticized the Democrat's failure to introduce any health care legislation in his four terms as Massachusetts senator.

"All he had to do was put a bill in the hopper at any time over the last 20 years which would allow us to clearly see what it was that he wanted. But no. Now that he's running for president he has all of these ideas on health care," Thomas said.

With an eye on the electoral map, Kerry broke his study down state by state. He says health insurance costs in Pennsylvania have grown $2,756 over four years, with a family policy now averaging $9,477. In Ohio, with 20 electoral votes, costs have grown $2,704 and policies now cost $9,300. The numbers for Michigan, with 17 electoral votes, show a $2,795 increase to a family cost of $9,612.