Tag Archives: candidates

Brief compares candidates’ positions on older Americans’ health

Trump and BidenA new explainer from The Commonwealth Fund examines how the two presidential candidates will or have approached health issues of prime importance to older adults — Medicare, long-term care and caregiver support.

While it’s a bit like comparing apples and bananas, since only one side can point to any results, this issue brief nevertheless provides a helpful overview of what the U.S. has accomplished under a Trump presidency and how a Biden administration might differ. Continue reading

Journalism groups ask candidates to take a stand on press freedoms

Photo: Rhk111 via Wikimedia Commons

Will the next president respect the rights of a free press? It’s a question vital to democracy, yet rarely posed to candidates.

Hoping to make press freedoms a topic of discussion in the 2020 presidential campaign, the National Press Club’s Journalism Institute collaborated with other groups to develop a questionnaire that was circulated to all the candidates in November. Continue reading

Names of campaign health care advisers are tightly kept secrets

confidential-fileMuddled arguments about health care have, for better or worse, so far dominated the Democratic primary debates. Every once in a while Cory Booker steps up to explain to the television audience – and perhaps the candidates themselves – that the disagreements aren’t as cosmic as they seem.

Every Democrat on stage wants to expand coverage and to use government programs to achieve that while the Republicans are still talking about repealing the ACA or killing it through the courts. Continue reading

Democratic presidential candidates unveil broadband access, telehealth plans for rural America

Photo: Talk News Radio Service via Flickr

Last week kicked off the 11-day Iowa State Fair, drawing most of the top Democratic presidential candidates. A regular stop on the early state voting circuit, the Iowa State Fair offers the opportunity for face time with early-state voters – while also eating food on sticks and posing for selfies in front of a giant cow made out of butter.

In between, candidates have been releasing their plans for rural America. Many of these plans include details how they would expand broadband access and telehealth services. Continue reading

Getting the facts straight in the ACA reform debate

Dem-candidatesMany of us spend time fact-checking what political candidates say during the debates.

But sometimes we need to fact-check the moderators (or perhaps the TV producers who help create questions outside a moderator’s area of expertise).

Witness the last month’s debate among candidates for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Most of it was focused on foreign policy, but there were a few health care questions. At one point, moderator Martha Raddatz noted that health insurance premiums had risen 27 percent in five years. She then asked Hillary Clinton how she would fix the Affordable Care Act: Continue reading