Palin is McCain's Pick

McCain's VP Pick is a dark horse if ever there was one.

Sen. John McCain has chosen Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate.

Virtually unknown on the national stage, Palin is Alaska's first woman governor, and was sworn in to the job in 2006.

The 44-year-old is known as a reformer, and holds a very high approval rating in Alaska.

The mother of five children, one of them has Down syndrome. She was aware of the situation before giving birth, but went ahead, saying she "sees perfection" in her son.

This aligns with her strong anti-abortion stance.

Although we will get more information on her health care stances in the day's ahead, she has been a proponent as governor for more affordable health care, starting with more flexibility in government regulations to achieve it.

Palin also wants more transparency in medical care, allowing patients to have more access to full medical billing information.

She had promoted a bill in her state called the Alaska Health Care Transparency Act to give consumers more info on quality, costs and other matters, stating that this type of transparency would raise competition and help lower health care costs in her state, which has a high number of uninsured people. Reportedly the bill has yet to make it through the legislature.

As said, we will have a more complete profile on Gov. Palin, and her positions on health care, in the coming days.

Stay posted.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Obama Chooses Biden for VP

Sen. Barack Obama has chosen Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate. Obama made the announcement Saturday on his website and in a text message to supporters.

The veteran senator, of Delaware, had made a bid for the presidency but dropped out in January after a poor showing in the Iowa caucus.

As a candidate, Biden's positions on health care were closely aligned with Obama's.

He offered an extensive plan to help achieve universal health care coverage. Among the plans he proposed were expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program to age 21 and lowering the age for Medicare eligibility to 55. He supports stem cell research and abortion rights.

On a personal note, Biden, 65, suffered two aneurysms in 1988 that required surgery.

We will be bringing you more information about Biden in the coming days, as well as Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick when he or she is announced.

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor