Gubernatorial candidate Pawar brings platform to Galesburg
Pawar, a
Though progressive in philosophy, Pawar emphasized that he was frustrated with many on both the right and left for refusing to listen to each other's opinions, resulting in no understanding of each other's positions and no compromises. Pawar and Coleman also noted how state politicians from both parties have neglected to fix ongoing economic problems in rural and downstate
"It's been really revealing to see communities like the community I come from -- communities that have been looked over, not invested in -- and there's too far many like that in the state of
Pawar explained the four planks of his New Deal for
For the fourth plank of enacting a universal health care system, Pawar would create a single-payer system that would collect all public funding for health care into a single trust. The plan would cover medical care for every Illinoisan, including preventative visits, hospital care, prescriptions, mental health services, nursing home care, rehabilitation, dental and optical care.
Pawar said taxes will not need to be raised to finance the single-payer system.
"What we can do is just take the premiums that people currently pay to an insurance company and pool that at the state, and then you actually reduce the premiums because more people pay into a pile," Pawar said. "I think another way to drive down costs, so that it's not a tax increase, is to create an interstate compact with other states to make the pool bigger. ... Our health care system right now, that doesn't serve everyone, costs the state billions of dollars in indirect taxes to people because your insurance premiums are based on the fact that lots of other people don't have insurance, so you're paying to cover everybody, and that's costing everyone more. So why don't we drive everyone's costs down by serving other people?"
Pawar also shared his family history with attendees and how it influenced his view on the current state of
Pawar said he's seen the same system playing out in
"I feel that it's necessary to bring people together and stop fighting one another over scraps based on what we look like, where we live and what we do for a living," Pawar said.
During the Q&A portion of the event, attendee
He recalled when he first ran for city alderman and, after being elected, needed to work with many people in the
"Politics is a lot like high school," Pawar said. "People sit at their tables and not everyone wants you sitting at their table. And we can either succumb to that or just recognize we're adults now, we lived through high school once, and stop buying into this petty stuff."
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