Fifty-Four Key Policy Questions Submitted By The First Annual Citizens’ Symposium Port Clinton, Ohio April 25 & 26, 2008
HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AMERICANS
1. While we’ve heard a lot about plans to improve American’s access to health insurance coverage, very little has been said in the presidential debates about addressing the other crucial aspects of meaningful health care reform. Namely, making sure 1) our health care delivery system and 2) our health care financing mechanisms are able to meet the needs of all Americans in an equitable and sustainable manner. Could you share with us your thoughts on these two rarely mentioned but crucial aspects of the health care reform?
2. One criticism of the American health care system is that we treat health care as both a right (for example, by requiring hospitals to stabilize and treat all patients who come through their doors) and a commodity (by encouraging market-based competition, with increased access to services available to people with greater means). To what extent do you think health care should be treated as a right or a commodity, and how would you go about drawing that line?
3. Much has been said about the need to increase individual responsibility and choice within the health care system in order to restrain cost growth. Unfortunately, people don’t choose to get sick or injured, and they often need a series of costly tests simply to determine their treatment needs and options. How should we design an affordable health care system that encourages choice and responsibility while helping people navigate circumstances that are often beyond their control – in the hands of doctors, insurers, and others?
4. Experts in the health care reform debate agree that one of the biggest hurdles to achieving meaningful health care reform is the fact because so many stakeholders have so much invested in the current system, they stand to lose under any reform plan – and so aren’t inclined to support change. How will your administration work with all the stakeholders and overcome their current biases to achieve meaningful reforms to benefit all Americans?
5. While it’s easy to dismiss other developed nations’ health care systems as “socialized medicine” or somehow inapplicable to the United States, researchers across the political spectrum cite examples of ways we can successfully save money and improve outcomes by using strategies tested in other countries. What lessons can we learn from other nations to reform our own health care system, and how would your administration work to see them implemented?
6. Regardless of what your health care plan entails, no president is able to implement long-term public policy changes without broad public support and a bipartisan partnership within Congress. Can you give us some specifics as to how your administration will work with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to deliver health care reform, and how you will sell your collaborative product to the American people?
7. “Transparency” has become a popular watchword in Washington when it comes to health care, with hospitals (and increasingly, doctors) being required to publicly disclose their cost, charge, and outcomes data. To what extent do you support requiring insurance plans, drug manufacturers, and medical device makers to abide by similar public disclosure measures?
8. Many commentators have warned of the dangers of putting government in control of health care, but the fact is that more than a third of all Americans already are insured by Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. Are there any lessons – good or bad – that can be learned from these programs and to what extent should they be used to guide health care reform?
9. While they agree change is desperately needed, analysts are split over whether our health care system should be reformed incrementally, or whether only large systemic changes will be effective. What approach should we take, and where should our short- and long-term efforts be directed?
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY QUESTIONS FOR THE 21st CENTURY
1. What is your view of supporting domestic oil and gas exploration?
2. What is your view of the natural gas pipeline being proposed from Alaska?
3. What is your view of drilling off the shore of Florida?
4. What is your realistic view of alternative forms of energy other than petroleum?
5. How do you view the impact of ethanol production on food prices and government incentives to produce corn based ethanol?
6. Are you willing to stop linking the gas tax to the price of gas, and hold gas taxes where they are now?
7. Would you consider a tax on foreign oil to energize domestic production?
8. What is your view on the new highway mileage standard being proposed?
9. What is your view of opening up more federal lands for oil and gas exploration?
10. In the area of clean coal technology, in your view, what are the steps that need be taken to bridge the gap between pollution problems and viable alternative fuels?
11. What is your view regarding nuclear power?
12. Currently the federal government funds programs at NREL and Sandia laboratories. Do you believe the funding level should increase?
13. Should there be a federal program related to solar energy or should the states compose their own policies?
14. Should government assistance be in the form of an upfront subsidy or a feed-in-tariff as it relates to private installations?
15. What should we do to motivate power companies to build solar farms for grid energy?
16. Should universities or other research institutions be funded to advance low cost solar?
17. Do you view solar energy products as being a source of increased employment here at home?
18. Should the federal government utilize more solar energy to set an example for the general public?
19. What other alternative energy technologies should be supported and why?
20. Are there plans to promote awareness of both PV and thermal solar technologies?
21. What do you think you must do to convince the Congress to pass a meaningful renewable energy bill?
22. Why does the government cater to land wind farms when it is a proven fact that wind turbine technology creates more jobs in the small business community than any other form of alternative energy technology?
23. Why isn’t the United States as competitive as Germany or Holland regarding tax incentives associated with wind turbine technology?
24. What is the disconnect between wanting to be a green community and environmental restrictions that prevents one from becoming a green community? We as a nation seem to take a plentiful supply of electricity almost for granted. Our industrial efficiency demands a comprehensive supply of reliable electrical energy.
25. What priority are we to assign to the building of nuclear plants to replace older ones?
26. What is the government’s (NRC’s) role in fostering change in the percentage of power generated by nuclear?
27. Do you think an increase in nuclear power plants will have an impact in influencing our balance of payment deficit?
28. England, France, Japan and Russia all reprocess spent nuclear fuel at this time. Do you see this as a strategy for the U.S.?
EDUCATION FOR THE 21st CENTURY
1. There are many conflicting opinions about “No Child Left Behind,” yet recent reports indicate that 70% of American eighth graders are not proficient in reading – setting them behind for the rest of their lives. What will be your approach to K-12 education at the federal level?
2. There is great concern throughout the United States about the skill set of our students in math and science. Compared to students in 30 industrialized countries, American 15 year-olds rank 25th in math and 21st in science. How do you think federal and state governments can best impact the improvement of these essential skills in math and science.
3. Recent reports indicate that in the United States, 31% of students drop out of high school. This statistic is staggering in light of the global economy in which these individuals will seek employment. How would you help students to stay in school and get a high school diploma?
4. In Ohio, our governor and chancellor view higher education as a driver of economic development. In light of what we can project about the economy in the decades to come, what do you see as the role of universities? What do you see as the role of two-year colleges? How would you differentiate between the two?
5. As you may be aware, the Pell Grant is the most important source of financial aid for many college students, especially two year college students. In fact, 70% of Pell Grant recipients have family incomes of $20,000 or less. Would you be willing to support an increase in the Pell Grant, even if this meant funding would be diverted from another source?
6. In many national debates, and especially those in Ohio and Michigan, there has been a focus on NAFTA as the chief reason why manufacturing jobs have disappeared in the “rust belt.” The truth, however, is that manufacturing, as a whole, in the United States is healthy. In fact, in a survey of 800 manufacturers, conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers, 80% reported a shortage of skilled workers. The time when an individual could graduate with a high school diploma, find an unskilled job and make a middle class income has come to an end.
6a) How would you propose helping those individuals who have been dislocated from manufacturing jobs?
6b) How would you help reinforce the truth that many of the unskilled jobs are gone forever?
7. In higher education in the United States almost two thirds of graduates leave college with some debt. The average is reported to be $20,000. How would you both encourage individuals to go into higher education, and at the same time, help them avoid excessive loan debt?
8. The united States Department of Labor reports that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38, and that many of the jobs that they will perform have yet to be created.
This description by the Department of Labor seems drastically in contrast to the funding crisis faced by K through 16. What strategies do you have to address this gap?
9. The DREAM ACT would allow states to grant undocumented students access to post-secondary education benefits. Do you or don’t you support the concept of the DREM ACT?
A PEACE PLAN FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
1. What do we gain and what do we lose by including Iran in regional negotiations over how to bring peace in Iraq? Do the gains offset the losses? Why or why not? Should progress on other issues like nuclear development, be a precondition for discussions with Iran about Iraq?
2. Given that an increase in American troops in Iraq (the surge) reduced violence, will a decrease in American troops increase violence? Why or why not? If this is the case, i.e., that changes in the relative amount of violence in Iraq simply mirror American troops levels, then how will we determine the appropriate troop levels in the future?
3. To the Republicans:
a. You say that we should stay in Iraq until we obtain “victory.” How will you know (what will it look like) when we have obtained victory? Can you describe a typical victory scenario, a set of facts on the ground that will indicate that we have won and that we can begin to remove our troops?
b. Is there any evidence (an increase in the loss of American lives, an increase in the financial cost of the war or a certain number of months or years passing without any substantial progress) that would cause you to change your mind and advocate a withdrawal of American troops short of victory? What is it?
c. If al-Qaida is operationally weakened to the degree that it is no longer a major threat in Iraq, should we begin withdrawing our troops, or do we stay to counter sectarian violence and/or Iranian influence? Does this change the goals of our engagement, i.e., are we now in Iraq until a stable government is in power with which we can partner - which is a stable ally of the U.S.?
4. To the Democrats:
a. What evidence do you have that a withdrawal will not precipitate mass killings in Iraq and destabilize the entire region?
b. Is there anything (evidence from the front) that would cause you to change your mind and advocate a continuation of the present level of American military commitment in Iraq?
5. Will Hamas, as presently organized, have to be a part of any negotiations that lead to a lasting peace settlement between Israel and Palestine? Why or why not?
6. Can we reduce our burden in Iraq and Afghanistan by further internationalizing the conflicts? How?
7. Can we not accept an internationally monitored enrichment of uranium by Iran that falls short of the creation of nuclear weapons? Why or why not?
8. Has our focus on the war in Iraq affected our other international interests? If so, in what ways? If not, do you mean that the resources (time, manpower, material and wealth) that we have expended in Iraq, could not have been used to advantage in some other way?