From The Arrow

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich both agree the health care system in America is broken and needs to be changed, but they differ enormously on how to fix the problem.

Wednesday night at the Show Me Center a debate took place between Dean and Gingrich on that very issue. Their difference in how to fix the problem comes to the role that the government should play in the health care of American citizens.

During a press conference beforehand, one reporter asked Dean, "What is the most important thing Americans need to be thinking about, or that will come out of this?" To which Dean said, "I think the most important thing is to have a bill that will have reform in it, and the only real reform is the public option."

When Gingrich's press conference started, another reporter asked him what his feelings toward a public option were, to which Gingrich responded, "What kind of magic is there about a bureaucratic program that will suddenly make health care cheaper. For example, last Sunday we just had '60 Minutes' confirm that there's an enormous amount of theft going on in Medicare and Medicaid...which totals between 70 and 120 billion dollars."

During their opening speeches before the crowd and debate began, Gingrich said that public option "isn't so much a public one as it is a bureaucratic option." But Dean said that the public option is the only way to keep health care costs down.

There was a larger than expected turnout at the event. The Show Me Center was set up for roughly a third maximum capacity and spilled out to seating on the floor, and the people that came made up a very large diversity of Cape Girardeau's community. But most notable was the amount of Southeast students that attended the event. Cape citizen Anne Marietta said, "This event is a wonderful opportunity for students to get into political issues." And Kathy Smith, an art professor at Southeast, echoed that, saying, "it is about time we started talking about this subject…it is very important to our students'' future."

Overall, the event was well organized and seemed to be very well received by the crowd. Though both politicians disagreed on how to handle the health care situation in America, both agreed that something had to be done. "It's not being debated that we should switch from an illness-based system to a wellness-based system," said Dean, to which Gingrich agreed, saying, "We both agree that the system needs to be changed, but we differ on how to change it."