Tuesday, August 26, 2008
6:55 PM
Baldwin: Obama will bring 'health care to all'
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Madison returned to a speaking role at a Democratic National Convention Tuesday evening to discuss health care reform, praising Barack Obama as "the change we need to bring health care to all."
"I had the privilege of speaking to this convention four years ago," Baldwin said, lamenting a continued increase in the number of uninsured Americans following the 2004 election. "Today, the number of uninsured has risen to 47 million people."
Baldwin said that number included more than 9 million children, but did not include millions more Americans who are underinsured. She related the story of a constituent from Beloit who was forced to declare bankruptcy after losing her savings and available credit in a failed attempt to treat her husband's cancer.
"For millions of Americans, many of them women, illness also means crushing debt," Baldwin said.
Baldwin, who supported Hillary Clinton in the Wisconsin primary, called the current election a historic opportunity to change the course of the American health care system.
"For eight years we've had a president who's more concerned about the health of insurance companies than the health of the American people, and John McCain is more of the same," Baldwin said. "Barack Obama believes that investing in the American people restores the American Dream."
-- By Andy Szal
Labels: 2008_National_Convention