East Carolinian

Issue date: 10/30/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Natalie Jurgen

For the number of students and community members that are still unsure about which candidate they will be voting for next Tuesday, Alisa E. Debnam, M.P.H, executive director of the Council of Allied Health for North Carolina, held a forum titled "Whose Health Plan is Best For America?" which presented each candidate's platform on healthcare.

"I want people to be informed on the candidate that best represents them," said Debnam.

The event, which was sponsored by the student leaders council and held in the College of Nursing wing of the Health Sciences Building on Tuesday, kicked off with a brief background of the Council for Allied Health in North Carolina.

According to Debnam, the council was founded in 1991 with a mission "to ensure that North Carolinians will have access to a well-prepared and well-distributed workforce."

The council meets bi-monthly on the first Wednesday starting in January and the meetings are open to the public.

Debnam asked the audience questions regarding their personal health insurance standings and stated, "It is important if you are getting ready to graduate and enter the job market to understand that you will be responsible for your own insurance."

To get an understanding of the audience's knowledge of the candidate's platforms on healthcare, Debnam then gave a mini pop quiz in which the majority of the audience answered five out of 11 questions correctly. Students were asked to answer whether the questions were from Obama's platform, McCain's platform, neither candidate's platforms or both platforms.

Obama's platform consists of a national healthcare initiative that would "preserve the existing job-based insurance system while extending coverage to those who lack it," Debnam said.

McCain, on the other hand, aims to create a de-regulated national health insurance market and offer a refundable tax credit of $5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals.

Next Debnam pointed out where Obama and McCain differ on healthcare.

She stated that Obama's plan requires healthcare coverage for children while McCain's plan has no specific provision to cover children.

Also, Obama's plan requires coverage for patients with pre-existing health conditions while under McCain's plan, insurance companies can pick and choose whether or not to cover patients with pre-existing conditions and the rules would vary from policy to policy.

Debnam also recognized where Obama and McCain agree concerning healthcare.

She stated that they both want to speed up electronic medical records, both want the public to have more information about medical treatment, both want to lower drug costs and both want better coordination of care.

"You need to try to make a decision about what is going to work best for you," Debnam said. "Don't think short-term. You need to think long-term and how it will affect you."

Debnam stressed the importance of following personal convictions.

"We took this as an opportunity to have an unbiased presentation and [to] educate everyone," said Candice Canavan on the student leaders council. "It's something that the council tries to do to bring all of the Allied Health departments together."



This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.

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