We already know that when it comes to healthcare, the Republican presidential candidates aren’t exactly on firm footing. In the cases of McCain, Thompson, and Giuliani, for example, each of whom have been treated for different kinds of cancer, they would likely be denied healthcare insurance under their own healthcare plans. Better yet, the GOP hopefuls believe they should get taxpayer financed care, but everyone else shouldn’t.
But NPR took this question to the next step: what do the presidential candidates do for their own healthcare insurance, and what (if anything) do they offer their staffers? (via TP)
It turns out that this year, many of the Republicans and Democrats running for president are sitting members of the U.S. House or Senate — and are thus eligible for taxpayer-subsidized coverage through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan.
But not all of the candidates depend on that coverage exclusively. Like many Americans over age 65, Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ) has a variety of health plans available to him.
“I’m eligible for veterans’ care, because of having served in the military, and I’m most proud of that,” McCain said in an interview. “I have the Senate health-insurance program, and I’m also part of my wife’s supplementary insurance that she has.”
McCain is lucky to have so many insurance options, since he’s a cancer survivor — he had surgery for melanoma eight years ago.
Of course, under McCain’s approach to healthcare policy, that kind of pre-existing condition would make it difficult to get private insurance, to which the senator responds, “Oh well.”
But it’s the campaigns’ approach to staffers that’s the most interesting.
[W]hat about candidates who don’t have access to employer-provided coverage? Particularly those with pre-existing conditions of their own, or in their immediate families, such as the recurrence of breast cancer for which Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Sen. John Edwards (NC), is being treated?
Actually, it turns out that Edwards does get his coverage — and coverage for his wife — at work.
“Our family gets our health insurance through the campaign,” he said. “And it’s Blue Cross.”
Indeed, almost all the Democratic candidates offer health insurance to their campaign workers.
The exception, oddly enough, is Dennis Kucinich, who advocates the most generous tax-funded health plan of any candidate. (Kucinich said in October that healthcare coverage for campaign aides was something his team was “looking into,” but as of now, staffers still aren’t covered.)
As for Republicans, McCain and Giuliani, to their credit, offer insurance to their aides. Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter do not. And best of all, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney refuse to say either way.
It’s a shame those candidates won’t talk about their own coverage, says health policy analyst Marilyn Moon. Because knowing what kind of coverage they have would help illustrate how the health-reform plans they’re proposing for everyone else — plans that rely more on having individuals buy their own insurance — might or might not work.
“One of the difficulties in terms of assessing these health-care plans is actually illustrated by the situations of some of these candidates. Not all of them might qualify for good coverage under the plans that they have offered,” Moon says.
That’s because Giuliani and Thompson are, like McCain, cancer survivors. And in the individual health-insurance market, says Moon, at least under current rules, people who have had cancer or another serious disease often can’t buy health insurance at any price.
“Having the money to pay for a plan is not enough. You also have to be able to get a plan if you have a history of health problems,” she says.
Of course, as far as Rudy Giuliani is concerned, “[M]ore Democrats are concerned about their health care than Republicans.” For his party’s sake, he better be right.