Bill Richardson
On January 10, 2008, Bill Richardson withdrew his name as a presidential candidate.
NBCC sent a letter to each Presidential candidate requesting a video response telling us what he or she would do as President to eradicate breast cancer. We also asked for a written response to NBCC's core issues. Below is Bill Richardson's response.
1. Guaranteed access to quality health care for all.
All men, women, and children must have guaranteed access to quality health care regardless of their ability to pay. NBCC is pursuing legislation that meets these principles for access to care. All Americans should have access to a package of comprehensive services. Imagine everyone having access to the same quality of healthcare as members of Congress and the President. Americans deserve no less. My plan includes the following solutions to achieve universal health care:
- Working families and small businesses will be able to purchase coverage through the same plan that members of Congress and the President have.
- Americans 55 to 64 will be able to purchase coverage through Medicare.
- Lower-income Americans will have a choice to obtain coverage through expanded Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
- Young adult dependents up to 25 will be allowed to remain on their parents' policies regardless of student status.
- Veterans will get access to the high-quality care they deserve, when they need it, without bureaucratic hassles. I would create a Heroes Health
Card that provides veterans with the medical care they need even if they live far from a VA facility. I would also strengthen the VA by guaranteeing its funding from year to year.
My plan would also require insurers to provide coverage to all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions, as well as requiring all health plans to cover a standard package of proven preventive services like cancer screenings and immunizations. Finally, mental health parity would be included in all health care plans.
For the full details of my plan, please see my website.
2. $150 million for the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program:
Launched in 1992 in response to NBCC's campaign for increased federal funding, this unique research program funds innovative grants within a structure that brings scientists and consumers together in making policy decisions at all levels. I strongly support this program. We need a structure that incorporates the invaluable input of consumers who have had personal experience with cancer.
This president wants to focus our efforts on a surge in the failed war in Iraq. The real surge we need is in the war on cancer. It should be a war that involves not just more research funds, but also presidential leadership and a bipartisan effort. In addition, I have called for annual 7.5% increases to the NIH and NCI budgets over 10 years - which will more than double their federal funding.
My health care plan also includes a cabinet-level Cancer Czar that will oversee the federal government's efforts to battle the disease.
3. Enactment of the Breast Cancer Environmental Research Act (S. 579/H.R. 1157):
This legislation will establish a national strategy to study the role that the environment plays in the development of breast cancer, through competitive peer-reviewed NIH grants.
Yes, I support this legislation. We do not know enough about how to prevent breast cancer, and we must aggressively pursue research on potential environmental causes.
Damage to the environment is bad enough when it affects the Earth; it is even worse when it affects the health of people. Additionally, this burden is borne unequally by minority communities. African American children, for example, are five times more likely to suffer from lead poisoning than white children. An academic study showed that race, above every other factor, was the variable most directly linked with the location of toxic waste dumps throughout the country. The cancerous effects of these dumps are enormous.
The only real answer to this problem is to clean up our nation, and I have spent a lifetime committed to this issue.
I will restore the Clean Water Act: we must protect our rivers, lakes, and streams. As the governor of an arid Southwestern state I know that water is our most precious natural resource. The Clean Water Act is the primary vehicle for preserving America's rivers, lakes, and streams and it must be restored.
I will revive Clean Air Act Standards and help states to enforce them. I will expand disclosure of toxic pollution the public right to know about toxic pollution must be restored by reversing the EPA's lax position on corporate reporting. Polluting facilities must report on the release of toxic chemicals at least once a year.
Additionally, Sierra Club President Carl Pope said that my energy plan "raised the bar" in the fight against global warming, and is "more aggressive than anything we've seen so far from the candidates." It is also significantly better elaborated. The League of Conservation Voters praised my proposals as the most aggressive plan of any candidate for President, saying "I set the highest goals for reducing global warming pollution and increasing production from renewable energy sources."
Not only will my energy plan have strong benefits for global warming and national security, but, with its focus on clean, renewable energy, it will clean up our environment - reduce environmental illnesses in the process.
4. Preservation of the Medicaid Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program:
NBCC's advocacy resulted in passage of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act, which expanded access to treatment for thousands of underserved women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer through federal screening programs.
Yes, I will preserve this program. Disparities in early detection and treatment of breast and cervical cancer are unacceptable, and the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program provides critical services to reduce these disparities.