Dennis Kucinich on Health Care

Kucinich's health care policy is built on a government-funded, nonprofit universal health care plan that would cover every American. He has co-sponsored a bill in Congress that would establish this plan, called "Medicare for All." Kucinich says that it would provide cheaper health care, mental health, and drug coverage because it eliminates private health insurers from the system.

Health Insurance: Private/Government

• Provide every American with health insurance coverage through a government-funded, not-for-profit plan called "Medicare for All."

Medical Costs

• Stop rising health care costs by providing insurance through a nonprofit system rather than private insurance companies.

Health Savings Accounts

• Rejects the idea of health savings accounts, which "do not address the critical condition of the American medical system."

Drugs: Costs/Importation

• Make prescription drugs available through the universal health care system.

Drug Safety

• Not currently addressed in platform.

Electronic Record Keeping

• Consider having patients and families keep and safeguard their own portable records. If kept on a national database, the records should only be accessible by the individual. It is not a policy that should be casually adopted without rigorous debate over privacy concerns.

Medicare/Medicaid

• Expand Medicare to serve all Americans.

Stem Cells

• Co-sponsored a bill that would lift limits on federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

Public Health Issues

• Introduced legislation to Increase food safety by requiring food manufacturers to label genetically engineered food. It would also require the Food and Drug Administration to conduct tests on genetically engineered food.

Abortion

• Supports protecting women's right to choose.
• Supports abstinence training as well as family planning.

Information compiled by Michele Foust, WebMD Medical News.

Medically reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

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