Press Conference 1

To solve chronic absenteeism we need to find the root of the problem. 44.3 million Americans are uninsured and tens of millions of the people that do have health care are very poorly insured. We need to rethink our health care program. By reforming the health care problem, we can help families that are becoming ill so that children are at school more often. When a child gets ill, with something like mononucleosis or the flu, they assume it’s something like a head cold, which needs care from a doctor. They go to school with this assumption, and spread the virus, to people with and without health insurance, which begins a snowball effect, causing more and more children to be absent.

Ralph Nader plans to begin a single-payer health care insurance plan. He is going to enforce a 3.5% payroll tax on all of the working. This means that 3.5 of everybody’s yearly income will go towards the country’s health insurance. While the rich are spending their 3.5% on health care for the poor, they’re insuring their own family, but the poor are still making an effort, and it’s all fair. After all of this reform, there will be many more school attendances. In Canada, they have the same plan, now their government is able to pay for 70% of the populations’ health care.

We have a set plan for our future that we are eager to set in motion. This will set up a good foundation for our future leaders, because they have good health care, which leads to a good education. Under John McCain’s health insurance plan, most families still won’t be able to afford health insurance. He wants to give a $2,500 tax credit to individuals and a $5,000 tax credit to families. On average, a family spends $8,400 on health insurance, so an average family would still be forced to pay $3,400, which many even then can’t afford. When the families can’t afford health insurance because of John McCain’s poor health care plan, students won’t be attending school, and it goes right back to that snowball effect.