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Posted: October 26, 2007 5:31 PM
Biden Health Care Plan Stops Short of Requiring Universal Coverage
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Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., unveiled a plan to expand access to health coverage for all children and adults on Tuesday that would cost between $80 billion and $110 billion a year and would primarily be paid for, he said, by rolling back a series of tax cuts on the wealthiest percent of Americans.

In addition to expanding the state children health care plan, or SCHIP, Biden’s plan allows those over the age of 55 to buy into Medicare. This is similar to the health insurance program provided to members of Congress and federal employees.

The senator’s plan stopped short of mandating universal coverage and is comparable to the plans outlined by fellow Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. On Tuesday, Biden told reporters “I don’t think you are going to need to mandate. When affordable health care is available, people will buy it, they’ll step into it.”

Still, with modest rankings in polls in the race to become president, Biden is increasingly referred to in newspapers as the “long-shot candidate.” His campaign for the White House in 2008 is placing all of the senator’s bets on Iowa, where he currently holds a 6 percent standing in the polls.

While the senator’s national numbers have remained idle, the focus on Iowa has paid dividends with regards to local press. One of Iowa’s local newspapers, the Storm Lakes Times, endorsed the candidate for president: That’s what we need right now: someone who can restore the good name of the United States of America around the world. Biden is that man, the editorial read.

One of the key selling points in the Biden campaign is the senator’s experience in foreign policy. More than a week ago, Biden teamed up with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to advocate a plan to divide Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions. At the time, Brownback was a candidate for the Republican nomination, but he has since withdrawn from the race.

While highlighting his experiences, Biden has started criticizing his opponents in the area of foreign policy. “While Mrs. Clinton was meeting socially with the prime minister of a country, I was sitting down and negotiation with them,” Biden told CBS News last week.

In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, Peter W. Galbraith commended the senator for being “probably the best informed member of Congress on Iraq.”

On ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, Biden commented on his electability: “A lot of serious people think I’m capable of being president. And if they thought I was going to win, they’d be for me.”

In an interview with the Washington Post editorial board, Biden discussed education, providing an example from Iowa that raised some question marks about race.

“There’s less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American,” he said. “There is probably less than 4 of 5 percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you’re dealing with.”

Biden’s campaign staff was quick to interpret the senator’s comments, insisting that he was referring to economics status, rather than race.

Biden concluded the interview by dismissing his meager standing in the polls as a result of a low profile and modest fund raising:

“The bottom line is that no one in the country knows me,” he told the Washington Post. “They know Joe Biden if they watch Sunday morning shows. Or occasionally turn on C-Span. But absent that, they don’t know much about me at all. … If I were able to raise 50, 60, 70 million dollars, than things would be different.”