LAREMONT, N.H. - Unhappy with the tenor and substance of the vice president's criticism of Bill Bradley's health care plan, Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey said yesterday that Al Gore is wrong and would never lead the nation to universal health care coverage.
''I think it's wrong on policy and it's wrong politically,'' Kerrey said in a telephone interview with the Globe. ''It's wrong for the Democratic Party to have a primary that makes it less likely to increase the number of Americans on health insurance.''
Kerrey, a Democrat who is supporting Bradley for president, said he is worried that Gore's charges will scare so many Americans that it will ultimately prevent Congress from overhauling health care in any way. He said he is entering the fray because he believes Bradley needs help defending his plan.
In recent days, Gore has picked apart his opponent's proposal, which would eliminate Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Bradley has said he would replace Medicaid with vouchers for people to buy private health insurance.
Gore has said the plan would disproportionately hurt African-Americans and Latinos who receive Medicaid benefits, and it would hurt the 50 percent of all people who are HIV positive who get their health coverage from Medicaid. The vice president contends that private insurance companies will turn many of these people away, and that Bradley's subsidy will leave many poor people paying out of pocket to meet the actual cost of insurance.
Yesterday, following a talk at the Empire Sheetmetal company in Manchester, Gore said he believes Bradley is not intentionally trying to hurt the poor, the disabled, and others who rely on Medicaid.
''I think that his heart's in the right place,'' Gore said. ''I like him, I respect him.''
But Gore said Bradley's plan would give two-thirds of the money spent to people who already have health care, ''many of them wealthy.''
''It was not well thought out, it was a mistake, and sooner or later he's going to have to amend it, change it, or retract it,'' Gore said.
Kerrey said he believes that Gore's own plan, to provide health insurance to all children, is an improvement over the status quo. But he said it is not as good as Bradley's plan, which aims to insure every American.
