Presidential Candidates Answer Town Hall Questions About the Need for Comprehensive Health Care Reform
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 8, 2008) -- The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) commends the two presidential candidates for addressing health care reform, one of the nation's most pressing issues, in last night’s town hall debate.
Senator McCain and Senator Obama provided the audience with plans for their approaches to health care reform, and Senator Obama directly noted the need for an investment in prevention in order to solve the health care crisis in our country.
"It was encouraging to hear that comprehensive health care reform is in the list of top priorities for candidates on both sides of the aisle," said PFCD executive director Ken Thorpe. "In order for us to move this agenda forward, policymakers in both parties need to work together to adopt common sense solutions such as championing chronic disease prevention and management to lower costs and improve the quality of health care in America."
Chronic diseases are the number one cause of death and leading driver of rising health care costs in America. The annual economic impact on the U.S. economy of the seven most common chronic diseases is calculated to be $1.3 trillion, which could balloon to nearly $6 trillion by the middle of the century. These are conditions that, with proper early intervention, diet, and exercise, could be prevented, delayed, or minimized. More than 130 million Americans today have a chronic disease.
"Now is the time to act to ensure that all Americans have access to high quality, affordable health care," said Thorpe. "If we let this problem continue to grow, we could see a repeat of the economic meltdown, but this time driven by our broken health care system."
About the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease:
The PFCD is a national coalition of more than 100 patient, provider, community, business and labor groups, committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: poorly prevented and mismanaged chronic disease.
The PFCD's mission is to:
- Challenge policymakers - in particular, the 2008 presidential candidates - to make fighting chronic disease a top priority and discuss how they will address it in their health care proposals
- Educate the public about chronic disease and potential solutions for individuals, communities, and the nation
- Mobilize Americans to call for change in how policymakers, governments, employers, health institutions, and other entities approach chronic disease
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