Laws & Politics Who’d be a better cancer-fighter, Barack Obama or John McCain?
By Ben Wasserman
Oct 12, 2008 - 3:44:42 PM
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Here is some comparison between Barack Obama's cancer-fighting
plan and John McCain's.
It is not
complete and interested readers should follow the links at the end of the
article and read their statements directly.
The impression is that Obama gives more details (giving about
1950 words) on what he would do as president than John McCain (who gives about
966 words). It seems that John McCain promises less and says less about what he
would do to help fight cancer.
McCain
states more on what he has done in the Senate for fighting cancer than does
Obama who is a junior senator and understandably has less to say on what he has
done on the issues.
Both candidates say little about cancer prevention
although they do mention the importance of screenings for such as breast cancer
and would like to see more screenings for Americans.
Nutrition and alternative medicine have no
place in either candidate’s plan while Obama suggests that he would do
something to help understand the effort of environmental factors on cancer.
1) Obama says he would double the budget for the National
Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute within five years while John
McCain says as President (he) "will make sure that our researchers have necessary
funding to defeat cancer once and for all."
2) Barack Obama says his plan will ensure affordable
health coverage for all Americans which would help more people who would
otherwise have no health insurance or be underinsured.
McCain says his health plan gives tax
credits.
3) Obama says under his plan Medicare co-pays for
colorectal and breast cancer screenings will be eliminated and colorectal
cancer screenings will be required in all group and individual health plans.
McCain does not seem to give details on this.
4) Obama says his plan will end insurance discrimination.
When cancer patients and survivors change health insurance plans, their new
insurers are allowed under the current law to deny them insurance benefits for
the pre-existing condition, according to the statement on Obama’s site.
Obama says his plan will end this practice and
allow people to buy any private insurance plant at an affordable and fair
price.
McCain does not emphasize on the discrimination, but says
that his health plan focuses on working with businesses and insurance companies
to widely employ common sense approaches like smoking cessation programs,
healthier eating habits and more active lifestyle to reduce risk of cancer.
John McCain also says "he believes that no American,
simply because of a pre-existing condition like cancer, should be denied access
to quality and affordable coverage," and "There would be limits on
premiums, and lower-income Americans would get additional financial
assistance."
5) Barack Obama says he would improve access to clinical
trials. He would improve the current system by paying more to trial workers and
taking other measures to get 10 percent of adult cancer patients to participate
in cancer trials.
McCain says he "understands their critical role as
essential testing grounds for new break through treatments. He also supported
the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act that, among other changes,
modernized the registry for clinical trial information. John McCain will
continue to stress the importance of clinical trials," cited from his
site.
6) Obama wants to improve federal coordination of cancer research,
treatment and awareness programs.
He
says currently NCI, CDC and FDA and CMS are poorly coordinated, which he says
is not good for cancer-fighting. He wants to change that.
McCain says "he will work to better coordinate the
efforts between the government sector, including the National Cancer Institute
(NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the private sector, especially
with a focus on translational research so new discoveries in laboratories can
be translated quickly and more efficiently to patients' bedsides," cited
form his website.
7) Obama says he wants to strengthen the medical
workforce. He says he will increase funding for loan repayment, adequate
reimbursement, grants for training curricula etc. as he sees a need to increase
the number of cancer specialists.
Editor's comment: The war against
cancer was declared in 1971.
After
nearly half a century, it seems we even need more physicians to fight cancer.
Does that mean we are losing battleground to
cancer?
McCain also says "He will also engage the next
generation of researchers early in this fight through academic curriculums and
internships,” according to a statement from his website.
8) Obama says he supports the efforts to increase
understanding and improve treatment of individuals negatively affected by
environmental factors. McCain does not seem to comment on this.