... And economic growth and health care for all

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums Guest column • John A. Miller Jr.: Health facilities offer remedy for interpretation needs (02/05/04) • W. Larry Gluck: Cancer care collaboration brings many benefits to Upstate (02/04/04) • Bill McHenry : National Board Certification is public education's expensive little secret (02/03/04) • Ben Boozer: Clemson institute helps communities prepare for the future (02/02/04) • Walter Ezell: Voters should look for vision, moral authority, ability to lead (02/02/04) More details Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt is seeking the Democratic nomination for president. He grew up in the same working class neighborhood on the south side of St. Louis that he has represented in Congress for 26 years. For more information, see http://www.dick-gephardt2004.com/.

South Carolina is hemorrhaging jobs, all across the state and from nearly every industry. Right now, more than 139,000 South Carolinians are out of work and more than 497,000 are without health insurance. Last year, a greater percentage of South Carolinians lost their jobs than in any other state. And when the jobs go, health insurance goes.

To me, the state of our union and the state of our economy are closely intertwined with our health care system. We need bold leadership in the White House to put South Carolinians back to work and make sure every single American has health insurance that can never, ever be taken away.

I have proposed a bold plan to provide universal health care coverage to the 41 million Americans currently without health insurance, while also stimulating our economy by putting more money into workers' pockets. My plan is the only plan that provides guaranteed health insurance coverage to all workers and the peace of mind that comes with that guarantee.

The plan uses proven, existing private and public structures to extend health insurance coverage to all Americans. The plan is paid for by repealing the Bush tax cut, replacing a failed economic plan with universal health care and demonstrable economic stimulus.

In addition to providing workers and their families with the security of guaranteed health insurance coverage, my health care plan will provide $316 billion in economic stimulus over the first three years of the plan that will go directly into the pockets of workers. Under my plan, a family earning between $31,000 to $80,000 a year will have $2,000 to $3,000 more money at the end of the year, compared to $700 or $800 from the Bush tax cuts.

This is a bold, innovative idea that can work. It can bridge a canyon of fear and illness. It will cover everyone in America with health insurance and jump-start the economy at the same time. It's morally right and econom- ically sensible. In the most powerful country in the world, it's wrong for health care to be a luxury, an unattainable dream, and not a right of citizenship.

We have to get Americans healthy, and we have to get them back to work. Month after month, South Carolinians are losing their jobs due to bad trade agreements like NAFTA and the China trade deal. Since 1994, when NAFTA was enacted, South Carolina alone has lost more than 54,000 jobs to unfair foreign trade deals. And, by the end of the decade, it is predicted this state will lose 19,000 jobs to China. We've already seen the effects of Bush's bad economic and unfair trade deals here in South Carolina with the closings of manufacturing plants and the staggering loss in jobs.

Just last week, I was in Georgetown talking with out of work steelworkers from Georgetown Steel, one of the many steel mills that have closed their doors across the nation. I listened to their stories about losing their jobs, losing their health insurance and the frustration of looking for new jobs that just aren't there. All the jobs have gone to Mexico or China, they say. And I say, that has to stop.

Trade is one issue where I have always stood up for workers here in South Carolina and across the country. At times, I was pretty lonely. Howard Dean described himself as a 'very strong supporter' of NAFTA. John Kerry voted for NAFTA. Howard Dean lobbied President Clinton in support of the China trade deal while John Edwards and John Kerry voted for it. Even Gen. Wes Clark touted his support for NAFTA in a speech to a Republican Party dinner in Arkansas in 2001.

I am the only major candidate in this campaign with a clear record of standing up for American workers against unfair trade policies and the only candidate with a plan to give health insurance to every single American that can never be taken away.

I will restore the American economy using principles of growth I helped forge in the early 1990s. I will work to create fair trade policies and provide the surest stimulus measure we can give our economy: providing guaranteed health insurance for all Americans. South Carolinians know, as I know, that healthy workers are productive workers. And healthy families make for a stronger America.