A final element to providing secure health care to Americans is affordability. One way to keep down health care's burgeoning costs is to open up the prescription drugs market to foreign competition. A pending congressional measure would accomplish this, and if passed, should be signed by either President Clinton or his successor.
Given our nation's expected multi-trillion dollar surplus over the next 10 years, improving the poor's access to health care is no longer a luxury, but what should be regarded as obligation. Although we have reservations about the dangers of centralization in both schemes, both Bush and Gore have presented laudable plans to boost Americans' health care coverage. In the end, it is a strong commitment to children's health care that ultimately makes Gore's plan the more attractive of the two.
Nevertheless, these proposals are merely a means to a higher end. Neither candidate, nor their supporters, should be content with a health care system that falls short of universal coverage. Only then will our nation be truly prosperous.