Meet the Joneses Part II: Health Care
In part two of the series, "GMA" looks at health care and the average family.
Aug. 26, 2008 — -- For part two of the series "Meet the Joneses," "Good Morning America" searched for an average American family to see how it deals with health care and what it looks for from both candidates as Election Day nears.
Lourdes and Bill Jones are working parents raising three children in California.
"We're busy with the kids and doing -- playing sports, living a normal life," Lourdes Jones told "GMA."
They both have an average commute to work -- 25 minutes.
They even exercise the average amount every day -- 28 minutes.
For this election, the Jones family's top concern is health care. Their young daughter has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Her treatment costs $160 per month, but insurance does not cover it.
"We realized with the HMO, it's kind of hard to get the support we needed," Lourdes Jones said. "We have to pay out of pocket."
As a result, the Joneses have had to cut back.
"We're trying to find solutions -- to help her and to eventually, you know, be less stressful for her and also our family as a whole," Bill Lourdes said.
They are also looking to presumed presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to help alleviate the burden through improved health care plans.
Obama's Plan and the Average Family
Obama's plan is said to include mandatory coverage for children like the Jones'.
Obama's campaign also told "GMA" that its candidate's plan would also allow the Joneses the option of purchasing different insurance through its proposed National Health Exchange.
"The Obama plan doesn't take away any choices, but the main way it helps is by directly reducing the cost of care to get their premiums down," Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to the Obama campaign, told "GMA."
To reduce the cost, the Obama camp says the plan would eliminate "waste" and improve the effectiveness of the health care system.
"For the average family ... the specific emphasis on preventive care and chronic disease management, a whole series of specific steps to get cost down, would reduce premiums by about $2,500," Goolsbee said.
But according to ABC News' medical correspondent Dr. Tim Johnson, making the health care system efficient enough to bring premiums down $2,500 would pose quite a challenge.
"I tend to be skeptical when I hear a very specific amount being offered for all families," he told "GMA." "On the whole, the idea that we're going to be easily able to cut $2,500 for all families, I think, is an unproven idea. We don't have the details. I think it's going to be harder than it is to say."
"Yes, it's ambitious," Goolsbee acknowledges. "I'm not disputing that. And, yes, we're going to have to sit a lot of people down around the table and hammer out a program."
Health Care Through McCain's Eyes
McCain has painted his health care plan in relatively broad strokes while on the campaign trail.
In April, he said, "We want a system of health care in which everyone can afford and acquire their treatment and preventive care they need. ... Health care should be affordable by all, not just the wealthy."
On the surface, the goals are similar to those of Obama's health care plan. McCain even plans to get individuals the exact dollar amount of savings as Obama does, $2,500 a year, to alleviate pressure caused by the high cost of health insurance.
He plans to do it, however, through tax credits -- $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families. His plan does not include mandatory coverage for children.
Regardless of which candidate takes residence in the White House in January, at least the Joneses know that both candidates have voiced their criticisms of the current U.S. health care situation.
"We have reached a point in this country where the rising cost of health care has put too many families and businesses on a collision course with financial ruin, and left too many without coverage at all," Obama said in a speech last year.
Generally, at least, McCain agrees.
"We know right now that it falls short, far short," he said in an April speech.