Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Mike Gravel, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Barack Obama, and Gov. Bill Richardson joined us for a special forum on health care on Saturday, March 24, 2007.
Co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Service Employees International Union, the forum was the first of its kind in the 2008 campaign. Our organizations invited all presidential candidates to participate.
Video & Transcript
- Introduction by Juanita P. Fain, Ph. D., UNLV
- Introduction by John D. Podesta, CAP Action Fund
- Introduction by Andrew L. Stern, SEIU
- Introduction by Karen Tumulty, TIME
- Senator John Edwards (video, transcript)
- Governor Bill Richardson (video, transcript)
- Senator Barack Obama (video, transcript)
- Senator Hillary Clinton (video, transcript)
- Senator Chris Dodd (video, transcript)
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich (video, transcript)
- Senator Mike Gravel (video, transcript)
- Complete Transcript (PDF)
Candidate Profiles
| Presidential candidates who attended: | |
Moderator and Hosts
Karen Tumulty, National Political Correspondent for TIME, moderated the forum and asked the candidates questions about the issue, giving them a platform to discuss how they will address our nation’s health care crisis. With nearly 47 million Americans uninsured – including 9 million children – and millions more underinsured or facing bankruptcy due to medical costs, few issues will be as important to Americans in the 2008 presidential election as health care coverage.
“Working people all across this country want to know what the next president is going to do to make health care more affordable and accessible for their families. The time is past for incremental reform – what we need is an American solution to fix our broken health care system,” said Andy Stern, President of SEIU.
“Fundamental reform of America’s health care system is both a moral and economic imperative,” said John Podesta, President of CAPAF. “The public debate is no longer focused on the question of whether or not we need universal health care, but what is the best way to achieve it.”
Other Resources
- Read a complete copy of our Candidate Briefing Book
- Learn about Health Action, our initiative to bring public focus, media attention and policy engagement to providing health care coverage.
- Read the CAP (CAPAF’s sister organization) health care plan. The Center for American Progress has a plan for tackling the health care crisis: Progressive Prescriptions
- For more information on SEIU’s campaign to fight for quality, affordable health care, go to www.seiu.org.