Standing before a few thousand Brandeis students, former President Bill Clinton delivered a genuinely encouraging and stirring speech last Monday that brought many of us back to the time when he was president. We remembered how Clinton was able to personally inspire each of us as he addressed millions of American citizens on television.Flash forward to 2007, and the United States is still attempting to address the problems that existed in our health care system in 1993,. In the early 1990s, Clinton was the first president to get Americans thinking about the benefits of a universal health care plan. Although his initiative failed, potential presidential nominee, and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has promised to fight for his same efforts, taking universal health care to new heights.

But can we trust that Hillary Clinton will be able communicate with citizens as effectively and in the same genuine manner as former President Clinton once did? There are too many important issues that need to be addressed: Health insurance premiums are on the rise again, and the number of uninsured individuals is increasing steadily each year. Will Hillary Clinton be able to approach such issues thoughtfully and practically?

Many Americans feel she would be unable to make the necessary turn-around.

Hillary Clinton proposed that she will provide tax credits to working families so they will never be forced into bankruptcy because of expensive health premiums. Many low-income families would benefit from this policy, but the proposal assumes that Americans earning higher incomes will want to pay steeper taxes to support this proposition.

In addition, Hillary Clinton has proposed that one way to achieve universal health care would be to require employers to provide coverage for their employees or pay into a fund

that will help provide coverage for the uninsured. Although this may force small and developing businesses to become more competitive, which may stimulate the economy, Republicans believe that this will ultimately force employers to eliminate jobs. Employers required to provide health coverage will face enormous personal costs, which they can deal with either by increasing prices or by creating massive layoffs.

The new health policies that Hillary Clinton is suggesting may have worked better during the World War II era, when employers were trying to hire dedicated and hard-working employees to support the war effort by offering health benefits. But since then, employers have no longer felt the need to spend money on providing health benefits, and as a result, company loyalty decreased among minimum-wage employees.

Universal health care seems like a good idea in theory, and may actually be created one day in the United States, but some more details must be provided in the upcoming months for voters to make an accurate assessment of her agenda. Economics major and business minor David Schwarzberg '10 mentioned that Hillary Clinton's health care proposals have been "extremely vague" and is "waiting for more specific information, which could possibly gauge my vote."

Another Brandeis Economics major, Yuval Barash '10, said "I definitely want to make a sensible vote, but it's still too early to decide." Other candidates may have a better grasp on the current problems in health care than Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama, for example, has a similar proposal to lower health care costs, but listed on his Web site are specific statistics and propositions that back his proposal. Hillary Clinton's Web site doesn't have such statistics.

The United States is a wealthy and powerful nation and can surely devise a way to insure that vulnerable populations will be provided an accessible route to quality health care. As we review the statements made by the presidential nominees for 2008, we must base our voting decisions on the contents of their speeches. Hillary Clinton is personable and charming, much like her husband, but what America needs are realistic solutions to the unacceptable increases in premium fees and the rate of uninsured citizens.



The writer is a member of the Class of 2010.