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Inside Politics

Kerry: We are here to make America stronger


Part 5 - Health care

VIDEO
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark speaks on behalf of veteran Kerry.

CNN's Bill Schneider on Kerry's challenge: defining his image.

Watch an excerpt of the biographical video to be shown in tonight's session.
SPECIAL REPORT
TRANSCRIPT
Full transcript of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's accepatance speech... 
• Part 1 -- Introduction 
• Part 2 -- Military 
• Part 3 -- Values 
• Part 4 -- Economy 
• Part 5 -- Health care 
• Part 6 -- Closing 

And we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans.

Since 2000, four million people have lost their health insurance. Millions more are struggling to afford it.

You know what's happening. Your premiums, your co-payments, your deductibles have all gone through the roof.

Our health care plan for a stronger America cracks down on the waste, greed and abuse in our health care system, and will save families up to $1,000 a year on their premiums. You'll get to pick your own doctor -- and patients and doctors, not insurance company bureaucrats, will make medical decisions. Under our plan, Medicare will negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. And all Americans will be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from countries like Canada.

The story of people struggling for health care is the story of so many Americans. But you know what, it's not the story of senators and members of Congress. Because we give ourselves great health care and you get the bill. Well, I'm here to say, your family's health care is just as important as any politician's in Washington, D.C.

And when I'm president, America will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, the connected, and the elected -- it is a right for all Americans.

We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national security when we only have three percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign countries for 53 percent of what we consume?

I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation -- not the Saudi royal family.

And our energy plan for a stronger America will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future -- so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for health care, for energy independence. I want you to know more about them. So now I'm going to say something that Franklin Roosevelt could never have said in his acceptance speech: Go to johnkerry.com.

Part 6 - Closing


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