Giuliani airs ad on healthcare

Rudy Giuliani lays out his prescription for dealing with 47 million Americans without health insurance in a new radio ad -- give people a tax deduction to help them afford coverage.

In the spot, which his campaign said this morning would air in New Hampshire, Giuliani proposes a deduction of $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual, saying that would work much better than more government involvement.

"If we do that, and we end up with a market of 50, 60 million Americans buying their own health insurance, without a mandate, the cost of health insurance will come down and the quality will come up," the former New York mayor says in the ad. "Government has never been able to reduce costs. Government never increases quality. We have the best health care system in the world. We just have to make it better."

Giuliani also makes the ad personal, arguing that he had a much better chance of surviving his prostate cancer several years ago in the United States than in Britain, with its government-run healthcare.

Giuliani, who plans a roundtable discussion on healthcare at the chamber of commerce in Manchester, N.H., this afternoon, is joining other Republican presidential contenders in proposing market-based solutions to healthcare. The leading Democrats are pushing for universal health coverage with more government participation, but not a completely government-run system.