A new candidate, and state of SCHIP debate

At this point in the election, I figured if anything we'd be dropping candidates from our Health Matters in the 2008 Election page, but actually, we're adding one: Alan Keyes. You may remember him from the last election, and he's back for more. He'll be on our page soon. Keyes announced his intention to run for president on Sept. 14 on his website, to little media fanfare.

Now, on to other matters ...

A new telephone survey held in Iowa among Democratic AARP members shows that 99% view health care as very or somewhat important to their vote. At the same time, almost 30% said they knew little about the different candidates' health platforms. If they check out WebMD, they'll get their answers.

The debate over President Bush's veto of SCHIP last week continues, and now there's a group spending nearly $1 million dollars on ads to make sure voters don't forget. The overt reason is to sway House Republicans to change their minds so Bush's veto can be overridden, but it's a political poke in the eye, too.

President Bush isn't laying low on the topic, though. He used his radio address on Saturday to acknowledge the "important debate" over SCHIP, defending his veto by saying six states allowed more adults to benefit from SCHIP than children. Bush also laid out the possibility of compromise with leaders in Congress (which until recently Democratic leaders have said is not an option).

The point of all this? As I said in an earlier blog, health (insurance) matters in the 2008 election.

Thanks for reading.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD