Third Time’s Not a Charm

Ten frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination (i.e., Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, and Rand Paul) met in Boulder, CO for their third debate. While spectators were undoubtedly interested in watching the candidates duke it out, few anticipated that the candidates would band together and go after the moderators (i.e., Becky Quick, John Harwood, and Carl Quintanilla). Then again, why the Republican National Committee would agree to a debate posted by CNBC is as much a mystery as how Marco Rubio suddenly managed to control his profuse perspiration.

The debate opened with Quintanilla asking each candidate to share their biggest weakness. Rather than share his greatest personal weakness, Kasich shared his greatest concern with the Republican field. “I’ve watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave senior citizens out in the cold,” he said.

Medicaid and Social Security were high on the agenda last night. Tough-talking Christie claimed to be “the only person that put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements.” (Note: This plan was not described in any detail during the debate, but for Christie proposing that politicians need to “treat [senior citizens] like adults, and tell them the truth.”)

Huckabee responded, stating that Social Security and Medicare are “not entitlement, [] not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks.” He also suggested that we “quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let’s quit making it a problem for them.” Interestingly, Huckabee noted that 85% of the cost of Medicare come from chronic disease, and proposed curing “the four big cost-driving diseases: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.” Huckabee explained that the US has saved billions of dollars by eradicating polio and could do the same with the aforementioned diseases. (Note: No one pointed out that, even without high incidence of polio, we continue to spend billions.)

Bush offered health savings accounts as a solution to Medicare, Carson alluded to something similar, and Paul simply stated that the private sector could do a better job maintaining a safety net. Frustratingly, none of the candidates discussed long-term care. Granted, most government-purchased long-term care comes from Medicaid rather than Medicare, but no one doubts a significant portion of the Federal budget is spent on long-term care each year, despite the fact that many who need it aren’t receiving it.

Indeed, the single question regarding healthcare outside of the Medicare paradigm –about profiteering pharmaceutical companies – went to Ben Carson. He agreed that “some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits,” but reminded listeners that, for a small manufacturer, regulations cost about $34,000 per employee. Thus, rather than singling out pharmaceutical manufacturers as the enemy, Carson claimed everyone can benefit from deregulation.

Of course, people with disabilities don’t need to be single-issue voters; candidate positions other issues are important, too. The candidate that introduced the most innovative ideas last night was Senator Rubio. Those who did not get support from vocational rehabilitation for higher education may be interested in researching Rubio’s plans for amending the student loan program. Rubio also proposed a tax plan designed to result in increased entrepreneurship.

In sum, the winner and loser of the debate were clear: Rubio and the moderators, respectively. Rubio positioned himself as an optimistic policy guru; the moderators came off as more interested in fantasy football than serious issues. Unfortunately, the lack of substantive questions also hurt voters, who didn’t get to hear candidates substantially differentiate themselves from one another on the more meaningful issues.

Emily is a 31-year old attorney and disability advocate from Indianapolis. Her interests include politics, bioethics, and all things German.