Mike Weber
Daily Lobo
When he took the stage at Phil Chacon Park on Thursday, the first thing Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry talked about was UNM's football team.
"I am basking in the win of the Lobos," Kerry told thousands of New Mexicans. "That's the first win over Texas - and the next one's in November!"
Kerry blasted President Bush's record on health care and touted his plan to cut premiums and expand access to health insurance.
Kerry said 5 million Americans have lost their health insurance since President Bush took office and voters "should not be fooled again." He said health care is becoming unaffordable and out of reach for more and more families.
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Jeremiah Ritchie, vice chair of the New Mexico Federation of College Republicans, led 20 UNM students in a pro-Bush rally.
"Sen. Kerry wants to spend ten times as much money as President Bush on health care," Ritchie said. "The biggest problem with health care is trial lawyers like John Edwards."
However, Ruben Pulido, Kerry's state spokesman, said the Bush administration should admit its record has lead to declining health care access and rising costs.
Kerry said his plan would lower the cost of health insurance by $1,000 per family "by taking the catastrophic cases you pay for now off your backs." Under Kerry's plan, the federal government would pay for 75 percent of all individual claims above $36,000.
Kerry also said his plan would provide health care for every child in the U.S.
Gov. Bill Richardson told the crowd 254,000 New Mexicans would benefit from health care in the Kerry plan. Richardson said Bush's plan would only cover 22,000 more New Mexicans.
Bush's campaign has said Kerry's plan will cost 10 times as much as the president's. Last week, the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, issued a study saying the Kerry plan would cost $1.3 trillion over nine years - twice what Kerry's campaign has estimated.
"The main thrust of Sen. Kerry's plan is providing 70 percent of the uninsured with insurance, and many are in the 18 to 29 age group," Sen. Jeff Bingaman said. "Kerry's plan will cover 70 percent, and Bush's plan will cover less than 10 percent. That's the big difference."
The Kerry campaign has been using numbers from a study conducted by Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University.
On his Web site on Wednesday, Thorpe said the AEI study is full of errors, such as counting 2.7 million children twice and rapidly and fully implementing a program Kerry's plan would phase in.
"I think Thorpe's figure is more credible," Bingaman said. "He's never been accused of slanting his numbers for politics."
This is Kerry's third trip to New Mexico since his caucus victory in February.
Vice President Dick Cheney was also in Albuquerque on Thursday.
