John Edwards has a bold plan to transform America's health care system and provide universal health care for every man, woman and child in America.
Under the Edwards Plan:
* Families without insurance will get coverage at an affordable price.
* Families with insurance will pay less and get more security and choices.
* Businesses and other employers will find it cheaper and easier to insure their workers.
The Edwards Plan achieves universal coverage by:
* Requiring businesses and other employers to either cover their employees or help finance their health insurance.
* Making insurance affordable by creating new tax credits, expanding Medicaid and SCHIP, reforming insurance laws, and taking innovative steps to contain health care costs.
* Creating regional "Health Care Markets" to let every American share the bargaining power to purchase an affordable, high-quality health plan, increase choices among insurance plans, and cut costs for businesses offering insurance.
* Once these steps have been taken, requiring all American residents to get insurance.
Securing universal healthcare for every American will require the active involvement of millions of Americans.
http://johnedwards.com/issues/health-care/As President, Edwards Will Stand Up For The Heroes In The Classroom – Hard-Working Teachers
Charles City, Iowa – Today, Senator John Edwards highlighted the service of America's teachers during a community meeting in Charles City, Iowa as part of "American Heroes Week." From Thursday, November 1st through Wednesday, November 7th, Edwards is highlighting his commitment to fighting for the real heroes of America – the men and women whose hard work makes our country great, but who have no voice in Washington.
Nothing is more important to our children's future than America's teachers. While pay for CEOs and other highly paid workers has skyrocketed in recent years, teachers only earn a fraction of the salaries paid to other educated professionals. Edwards believes we need to give teachers the respect and resources they need to succeed. He will stand up for heroes like Dennis Petersen from Charles City, who taught for 35 years, including 27 years as an art teacher at Charles City Junior High, before he retired. He is now substitute teacher whenever he is needed. Edwards has outlined a bold plan to support teachers and restore the promise of America's schools.
"Growing up, I had heroic public school teachers who cared about me, who took an interest in my life, and who taught me the skills I needed to succeed," said Edwards. "Teachers, not tests, are the single most important factor in successful schools. We need to give teachers the pay and respect they deserve. As president, I will support teachers and strengthen our education system, so that every child gets the same great education I received."
"John Edwards speaks to the parts of America that a lot of politicians have forgotten about -- the people who go to work, pay their taxes, and live true American lives," says Petersen. "He listens to the people and understands where they are coming from. He will not forget the average American working person because that is where he comes from, and he will not forget his roots."
Edwards' plan to support America's teachers and restore the promise of America's schools includes:
* Preparing Every Child to Succeed: As president, Edwards will launch a national "Great Promise" partnership to give a quality early childhood education to every four-year-old in the country – starting with poor children in neighborhoods with struggling schools. To reach even younger children, Edwards will create a national "Smart Start" program that will improve child care and invest in child health.
* An Excellent Teacher in Every Classroom: Teachers, not tests, are the single most important factor in successful schools. As president, Edwards will increase pay for teachers in successful high-poverty schools by providing bonuses for teachers who serve as mentors or have national certification for excellence. He will also create a National Teacher University – a West Point for teachers – to recruit 1,000 top college students a year, train them to be excellent teachers, and encourage them to teach where they are needed the most. His plan also will give extra support to teachers in the first years of their careers, reduce classroom sizes, and train more excellent principals.
* Radically Overhauling No Child Left Behind: No Child Left Behind used cheap standardized tests to measure our children's learning, failed to accurately identify struggling schools, and mandated unproven cookie-cutter solutions for our schools' problems. Edwards will radically overhaul it so it meets its goals of helping all children learn through accurately identifying and improving struggling schools. Based on North Carolina's successful education reforms, Edwards proposed a School Success Fund to allow teams of experienced educators to spend a year at struggling schools helping launch reforms. Edwards will also launch a "Great Schools" initiative to build or expand 1,000 successful schools.
In May, Edwards introduced an initiative to improve access to higher education by making college more affordable for millions of students. Edwards' College Opportunity Agenda includes a national "College for Everyone" initiative, which would pay for public-college tuition, fees, and books for any student who is willing to work hard and stay out of trouble.
http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071104-heroes-week-teachers/Chapel Hill, North Carolina – In response the conference agreement announced yesterday in Congress on federal subsidies for student loans, Sen. John Edwards released the following statement:
"Every year, taxpayers spend billions subsidizing banks to make taxpayer-guaranteed student loans. The loan program is no longer working for students, who today graduate with three times more debt than students did only one decade ago.
"Instead of fixing the problem, we are witness to another sad example that proves Washington is broken and that it's time for real change in America. While Democratic leaders in Congress were right to cut bank subsidies to spend more on student aid, they were wrong to preserve any wasteful subsidies that benefit banks at the expense of students. We do not need to compromise with for-profit lenders that spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to protect their subsidies.
"As president, I will eliminate these wasteful subsidies entirely and instead let all students borrow directly from the Department of Education, as millions of students already do. My plan will free up almost $6 billion a year and pay for most of my College for Everyone proposal – paying for the first year of public-tuition, books and fees for more than 2 million students."
http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20070906-student-loans/
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