Dose of Reality: HR 676 and the presidential candidates' proposals

In the August Dose of Reality column, "HR 676: The Route to Affordable Health Care," Davis discusses why the proposal is "a dream bill...that does all the right things to create an affordable single-payer health care system."

In the July Dose of Reality, Davis looks at the health care plans of John McCain and Barack Obama:

I get the feeling that both the presidential candidates are happy to see the health care issue fade a bit, because neither of them has logically defensible positions on health care, nor do their proposals have any hope of reducing health care costs.

The primary problem in both candidates' proposals is the failure to address actual health care; instead they focus on health insurance. This failure or inability to distinguish between the two is one of the central problems in the national discussions about health care reform.

However, concludes Davis, "Obama's plan is far better than McCain's....Obama at least proposes moving in the right direction." Still, both senators would do well to take a leaf or two more from John Conyers' excellent House bill.