Wall Street Journal examines record of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Palin on health care, other issues

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday examined the record of Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on health care and other issues as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and as governor of the state.

As governor, "Palin didn't make health care one of her top priorities, but where she did take a strong stand on health, it was for the free market," with her "overall approach" similar to the position of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) -- "loosen government regulations to allow for greater competition, along with more information for patients to make good choices," according to the Journal. Palin in January said, "Health care must be market- and business-driven, rather than restricted by government."

According to the Journal, expansion of health insurance "was less of an issue for Gov. Palin, much as it is less significant for Sen. McCain," as she "was reluctant to support a significant expansion" of Denali KidCare, the state version of SCHIP. Palin increased the eligibility requirement for Denali KidCare to children in families with annual incomes up to 175% of the federal poverty level -- "stingy compared with other states," the Journal reports.

Palin does not support embryonic stem cell research, which McCain has said he supports (Carlton et al., Wall Street Journal, 9/4).

Opinion Piece

A report released recently by the U.S. Census Bureau offers the latest indication that "rising health spending is eroding take-home pay" and that "immigrants are boosting both poverty and the lack of health insurance," but neither McCain nor Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) "seriously [address] these problems," Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson writes. "Unless we control health spending and immigration, the economic report card will continue to disappoint," according to Samuelson.

"Low-skilled immigrants, concentrated among Hispanics, outnumber the high-skilled," and they "drag down median incomes and raise poverty and the number of uninsured" because they "can't get well-paid jobs with insurance," Samuelson writes. He adds, "Immigration's effects on poverty and health insurance coverage are greater," as "immigrants represented 55% of the increase of the uninsured from 1994 to 2006."

Samuelson writes, "If health care spending remains uncontrolled, Americans will see more of their compensation diverted from take-home pay into insurance that mainly benefits (as insurance should) a small proportion of very sick people," and "if the immigration of low-skilled workers continues unabated -- whether they're legal or illegal -- the ranks of the poor will swell, as will the uninsured or the costs of providing government insurance" (Samuelson, Washington Post, 9/3).