Nothing in the waning weeks of the presidential campaign-not the candidates` TV commercials nor their televised debates-appears to have swayed voters here or shaken their determination to choose the candidate who seems to offer the best shot at keeping the paycheck coming in and the doctor bills paid.
In many cases, people in this small, central New Jersey town have had their minds made up since around Labor Day. But they evince remarkably little gusto about their choices.
”It`s Bush-but it`s not a very enthusiastic one,” said Amy Levy, 39, a part-time preschool teacher. ”I think nobody has character in this election. I think a lot hasn`t been told about (President Bush`s role in) Iran-contra, and that balances out a lot of Clinton`s sleaze.”
”I hate the idea of settling, but I am,” said Lena Jasper, director of the Hightstown-East Windsor Chamber of Commerce, of her decision to vote for Bill Clinton. ”I was just hoping the Democrats would pick someone good.” Is Clinton that someone? ”He`s the someone `OK` I was hoping for,” she said.
Far from prompting reconsideration or reversal of opinion in this primarily white, middle-class community, all the nasty character attacks and fancy program proposals that have come from the candidates in recent weeks seem rather to have hardened positions and sharpened the focus on what many East Windsor residents, like Fay Fisch, consider the most important issues of all.
”I`m worried about drugs and college. But for right now it`s `Will my husband have a job next year and will I have a good (health) insurance policy?` That`s what I worry about,” said Fisch, 38, a part-time aide in a neighborhood preschool whose husband is a computer technician.
Given her concerns, she said, ”I`m probably going to vote Democrat because I feel the Democrats are for the working people and middle class.”
Fear of the loss of medical insurance, which goes hand in hand with job loss for most people, looms larger for many residents as they have seen layoffs hit family and friends and their own health care costs escalate.
”I feel that it`s become a big issue with everyone, and if people are not aware of it, they should be,” said Sandra Capps, manager of the CoreStates Bank`s East Windsor branch.
”I see it in my own workplace. The cost of health care has become so astronomical that every year they`re coming down with a new medical plan for the employees and every year it`s more cost to the employees,” said Capps, noting that in the last five years her share of the cost of covering herself and her husband under her company health plan has gone from nothing to about half.
”What`s the answer to it? Heaven knows,” said Capps, who voted for Bush in 1988 but plans to vote for Clinton this year because ”it`s just time to see a change.”
A solution to America`s health care crisis, which has left about one in seven Americans uninsured, seemed to baffle most people interviewed in East Windsor. And, not surprisingly, most found sorting out the candidates`
positions on the subject as complicated as the issue itself.
Both Bush and Clinton propose plans that aim at cutting costs and covering almost every American, including those previously denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions. But they would use different means.
Basically, Bush would provide tax deductions for working Americans and government vouchers for the poor. Clinton would require large employers to provide insurance to their workers, provide tax help for smaller firms and cover the unemployed and the poor under federally guaranteed insurance plans. Ross Perot favors programs that would cut costs, provide preventive care and encourage state-run insurance plans, but he`s offered few details.
”It`s such a convoluted, multilayered problem, there`s no easy answer. There`s no sound-bite answer to this,” said Jasper, ticking off the needs of the indigent, the medical establishment and the drug companies.
But while nearly everyone interviewed echoed Jasper`s belief that every American is entitled to health care, almost all asked the same hard-nosed question posed by Levy: ”Who`s going to pay for it? I`d really like to know where the money is going to come from.”
While none of the candidates has supplied more than a fuzzy answer to this question so far, people in East Windsor demonstrated a clear grasp of what health care costs.
”I want you to know that it`s too much money to pay over $100 for a basic exam and some immunization shots-that`s what my daughter`s fee was last time,” said Levy. Although the family is covered under Levy`s husband`s medical plan at a Manhattan accounting firm, she pointed out, preventive measures, such as checkups and immunizations, are not included.
”I think preventive care is key-the idea that a person can get a complete exam every year is important,” said Ed Krause, 62, a retired school principal. ”If I, who had a polyp removed from my intestine, did not have an annual sigmoidoscopy, I could have died.”
Although Krause believes many insured Americans run to the doctor thoughtlessly and often submit to unnecessary tests, ordered under the specter of malpractice suits, he is enraged over the lack of preventive care provided for infants and children.
”That Bush could supervise a nation that is so wealthy and has an infant mortality rate higher than some Third World countries and not do anything about it-it`s criminal. Where`s the kinder, gentler nation in that?” asks Krause, who plans to vote for Clinton.
”First of all, we`ve got to get a grip on the insurance companies,”
said Jasper. ”They play God. I`m sure with some people they determine who lives and who dies. What about the women who don`t get a mammogram because the insurance company doesn`t cover it?”
Despite their expressed desire for universal, affordable health care, many residents, for somewhat the same reason, also were skeptical about anything that smacks of a national health plan.
”I don`t want to see our country go to the point where the medical profession is forced to be paid from the government,” Capps said. ”I feel that we all should have the freedom to choose the doctors we want if we can afford it, but I still feel that services should be out there for those who can`t afford it.”
”It`s something that has to be addressed,” said Jasper. ”But I think you have to be a Solomon to know what to do.”
