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Edwards: Leave insurers out of health care reform discussions

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  • Edwards: Leave insurers out of health care reform discussions

    December 31, 2007

    Edwards: Leave insurers out of health care reform discussions

    By TONY LEYS
    REGISTER STAFF WRITER

    Spencer, Ia. - John Edwards is using a recent medical tragedy to
    illustrate why he thinks the president can't include health insurers
    in health-care reform discussions.

    The story involves Nataline Sarkisyan, 17, of California, whose
    doctors said she needed a liver transplant. Administrators of her
    insurance company refused to pay for it.

    "The doctors pleaded, the nurses pleaded, and finally, Americans
    started literally picketing and walking outside their offices,"
    Edwards told about 260 people here today. "And they finally gave in,
    and notified the family that they'd pay for it. But then a few hours
    later, she died. Because it was too late."

    The candidate paused for a second to let this sink in. Then his voice
    rose in indignation. "And people say to me that as president of the
    United States, they want me to sit at a table and negotiate with these
    people? Never. It will never happen."

    Edwards' universal health-care plan is similar to those of his main
    Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But he is
    positioning himself as the one who would be most willing to fight
    health-insurers and drug companies, which he says stand in the way of
    real changes.

    The former North Carolina senator has vilified the leaders of such
    companies, saying they're only interested in ever-fatter profits. "How
    much money do they need? I mean, really."

    He did not name Sarkisyan, but he added her to a list of people who he
    contends are having their lives destroyed by greedy corporations. He
    includes workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas, veterans who
    are homeless and families living in poverty.

    "The very richest are getting much richer," he said. "The big
    companies are making more money than ever. But at what price? At what
    price? The promiseof America being available for children. That's the
    price. The destruction of the middle class in this country. That Ã-s
    the price."
    From: Baghdasarian
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