Health conscious

Presidential candidates have discovered that health care is atop many voters' lists of immediate and grave concerns

What do you know? The Republican and Democratic candidates for president have actually tuned in to some real worries of the American people. Specifically, they're all talking about health care, or planning to talk about it anyway, after years of campaigns in which candidates spoke in general terms but feared taking on one of the big concerns that almost all American families have.

Democrats in general are discussing plans that require more government assistance and involvement. Republicans tend to be steadfast in their support of the same "free market" ideas that President Bush has been touting. There are problems with the GOP attitude about the market, meaning private insurance companies, handling everything. For many citizens, it's not working. For others, it's becoming too expensive. And for still others, there is no insurance at all. (Sometimes, unfortunately, by choice.)

The unspoken truth is that the sentiment of many Americans is moving away from a fear of "socialized medicine" and toward a feeling of inevitability about a national health care system in which everyone is covered by insurance, or even a single-payer system such as those existing in other industrialized countries. Certainly, given the expense and bureaucracy of the current system, a simpler and more consumer-friendly approach is coming.

The insurance and drug industries are bound to fight any change that costs them money, and the politicians in Washington -- most of them well-covered by the government -- have long run from taking on the issue. But 2008 may be the year when presidential candidates have nowhere to hide.

So some plans are either out there -- John Edwards has one, for example -- or are on the way. Frankly, the old scare tactic pointing to "socialized medicine" has always been ridiculous. Consider Medicare, for example. The government already runs a health-care program, for goodness sakes. Establishing a national requirement for health insurance wouldn't be any great revolutionary step. Just an overdue one.

This is one reason presidential campaigns are healthy, no pun intended, for average citizens. Those average folks can't match the big bucks from insurance companies and the drug industry that attempt to back a candidate of the status quo's liking, but they've got the votes that candidates need to win the White House.

So once every four years, national politicians actually have to listen to the public. If they have been, they've heard the horror stories of how insurance didn't cover a family illness, or of how elderly people on fixed incomes can't get the medicines they need. Or perhaps they've heard the cheers for Michael Moore's movie, "Sicko," about the perils of the American health care system.

Sure, they've heard it all before. But if they want to be president, they'd better really start listening.