Posted on Sat, Jul. 22, 2006

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Kerry talks health care at town hall meeting

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. - About 250 people came out to hear what former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., had to say about health care disparities in America.

"The costs are too high, and the system is inefficient," Kerry said Saturday at a town hall meeting at the International Longshoreman's Association Local 1422. "It's effective health care, but it's not effective for everybody."

Kerry said he introduced a "Kids First" bill in the Senate last year to require the federal government to pay all Medicaid costs for children younger than 21 who live at or below the poverty level.

In return, state governments would expand coverage for children typically considered middle-class. States could save $11 billion each year if the federal government picked up health care for the poorest children, according to the proposal.

"The plan would reduce the cost of health care to the state, because the federal government would take over some of that cost," Kerry said, "and it would automatically enroll children in health care so every child would have health care immediately. So less cost to South Carolina, more children covered."

To pay for the increased coverage, the bill would repeal a portion of tax breaks enacted in 2001 for people earning more than $300,000 a year.

"I certainly think he is a candidate that realizes how serious this is," said Mary Sculley, a 73-year-old retired schoolteacher who drove from Mount Pleasant with a van full of loyal Democrats to hear Kerry speak.

"I imagine the problem in South Carolina is going to be money," Sculley told The (Charleston) Post and Courier on Saturday. "I mean, this is a poor state, and we are going to need a lot of help from the federal government to take care of our children."

After the town hall meeting, Kerry was scheduled to attend a rally in West Columbia to help raise money for Democrats in Richland and Lexington counties running in statewide elections.

Kerry's running mate in the 2004 presidential election, John Edwards, who was born in South Carolina, beat Kerry in the state's Democratic primary. South Carolina voted for President Bush in the general election.