Kerry attracts Hollywood players at SM fundraiser
By GENEVA WHITMARSH Daily Press Staff Writer
FAIRMONT MIRAMAR — Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry raised $3 million here Thursday while hundreds of supporters heard his plan for a reformed health care system.
Kerry promised those gathered at the $5,000-a-plate dinner at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel that his first legislative push would involve health care reform and proposed a series of measures he says would make health insurance more widely available and more affordable.
“Forty-five million people have no health care, and 163 million have health care through their employer, but the premiums, co-pays and deductibles keep going up, while the benefits are going down,” he said. “Four years of this president, and there are no plans at all for health care.”
In front of supporters — who included Tony Bennett and former California Governor Gray Davis — Kerry said his plan would increase funding for medical safety net programs like Medicaid, while also providing health insurance coverage for 99 percent of the nation’s children. It also would offer tax credits for businesses that provide health insurance to employees and would allow individuals to buy into the same health insurance program that’s available to many government employees, including members of Congress.
It would cost, by some estimates, as much as $800 billion over 10 years to implement Kerry’s plan for health care. The candidate says he’d pay for that largely by rolling back tax cuts on people who earn more than $200,000 a year, as well as reducing health care administrative costs and allowing the re-importation of prescription drugs from other countries, where they’re sold at deep discounts relative to prices in the U.S.
Bush’s plan, by contrast, would cost less than $100 billion over the next decade, Kerry said. Bush has proposed tax incentives for people who buy their own health insurance, and for people who set up personal medical savings accounts. Bush asserts that if people paid directly for health care, they would be more likely to use only services they really need — thereby reducing the overall cost.
Kerry briefly touched on the subjects of family values, after-school programs, global warming, stem cell research and the war in Iraq.
“Working with other countries is not a sign of weakness — it’s a sign of strength,” he said in reference to the war, while he called an end to the hefty price tag associated with imprisoning inmates and a renewed interest in Headstart and other youth programs.
The senator called the Nov. 2 election “the most important election of our lifetimes.”
“Everything that we care about as a country — everything that defines us — is on the line,” he said. “There’s not a moment in history since the Great Depression that there’s been a record this bad or a choice this clear.”
Kerry also accused the Republicans of trying to run a smear campaign rather than taking on the competition for the White House with direct debate on the issues.
“This president won’t talk about the issues,” Kerry said. “This president does-n’t have a record to run on, he has a record to run away from, and that’s why he engages in politics of fear and smear.”
In response, the Bush-Cheney campaign has said there would be plenty of time for discussion with Kerry during the three scheduled presidential debates, the first of which will be held at the end of next month.
Overall, the mood at the fundraiser was fairly light, with singer Tony Bennett crooning “The Best is Yet to Come,” while celebrities dined on a three-course meal. Among those in attendance were Sharon Stone, Angelica Houston and Sen. Barbara Boxer.
“Don’t think of this as a fundraiser,” Kerry joked. “Think of it as my Hollywood audition for the West Wing.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 27, 2004. Read the original PDF.