McCain, Obama advisors debate healthcare

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The problems within America’s healthcare system have been around longer than $4-a-gallon gas, longer than sub-prime mortgages, longer than the war in Iraq, says Dr. Arthur Garson Jr., vice president and provost at the University of Virginia. And they’re not going away. That’s why he hosted a debate Oct. 1, which you can see on podcast in full, at the university between representatives of the two presidential candidates.

Representing Sen. John McCain’s health system reform plan was Dr. William Winkenwerder, former assistant secretary of health for the Department of Defense, while Dr. Irwin Redlener, professor of pediatrics at Columbia University, spoke for Sen. Barack Obama.

Redlener began by saying, ‘Sen. Obama believes every American should have access to healthcare. We want to get everybody into the system. We want to control costs. And we want to improve quality.’

Winkenwerder began by saying, ‘Cost is the core issue that (Sen. McCain) is concerned about. His vision is a system in which everyone can afford the care and treatment they need.’

If that sounds like they’re on the same page, they’re not.

It’ll take you about an hour to listen to the whole debate, with questions and answers from the audience, but if you stick with it, you’ll have a good understanding of how each candidate envisions changes to the healthcare system, and what it will mean for you.

Give a listen.

-- Susan Brink