Universal Healthcare is a big issue in Campaign '08

Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today, published the following article from Denver regarding Sen. Hillary Clinton's stance on universal healthcare and its mention in her speech at the Democratic National Convention last night.

" Despite tortuous battles during the presidential primaries over the nuances of healthcare reform, Sen. Hillary Clinton was ringing in her support for Sen. Barack Obama's goals at the Democratic National Convention here.
In a so-called unity speech last night, Clinton said that she ran for president in part to "create a healthcare system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to chose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead-end jobs simply to keep their insurance."
She added, "I can't wait to watch Barack Obama sign a healthcare plan into law that covers every single American."
Clinton, who was in charge of the failed healthcare reform initiative during her husband's presidency, was scheduled to headline a forum today called "Winning Healthcare Reform in 2009."
Earlier yesterday, some figures in the entertainment world took advantage of the massive press turnout here to draw attention to the plight of children with type 1 diabetes in developing nations.
Among the famous faces were film stars Susan Sarandon, Anne Hathaway, Zooey Deschanel, and Matthew Modine, and hair-guru Paul Mitchell.
The celebrities are all part of the Creative Coalition, a Hollywood non-partisan political and social advocacy group.
At the luncheon, sponsored by Creative Coalition, a clip of a documentary was shown, called "Life for a Child," produced by the International Diabetes Fund and drug-maker Lilly. It tells the story of kids living with type 1 diabetes in Nepal.
Still earlier, Family USA responded to new Census Bureau figures that showed that more Americans had health insurance coverage in 2007 than in 2006.
Families USA, which advocates universal healthcare access, said the increase in insured Americans stems in part from people trading in their employer-sponsored plans for Medicaid.
In fact, healthcare coverage for workers is getting worse, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. According to Pollack, in 2000, 64.2% of the public was covered by employer-sponsored insurance. In 2007, it was reduced to 59.3%.
"As employer-sponsored health coverage continues to erode, it is important that meaningful healthcare reform become the top and earliest domestic priority of the next president and Congress," said Pollack. "