Understanding the Issues 2008: Health Care

[SmootSmack]

With the Presidential election just a few months away I thought it would be a good idea if every few weeks we took a look at one of the key issues and broke down each of the major candidate's stance on it. So we did this a few months ago with Iraq, and now we're going to follow up with Health Care. Initially I wasn't going to identify the candidates just to avoid any bias, but I found that to be too complicated.

Ok, well vote and discuss. Hopefully, this can spark some good debate that will either reinforce your view or make you reconsider.

Hillary Clinton
-Require everyone to get health insurance, subsidized by employers and the government
-Pay for it by rolling back tax cuts for households earning over $250,000 and savings in the existing system.
-Require large employers to provide insurance or contribute to the cost.
-Provide tax credits to small businesses and subsidies for low-income people.
-Create a pool of private plans similar to the program for federal workers and one public plan similar to Medicare.
-Plans are portable from job to job. Expand Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

HillaryClinton.com - American's Health Choices Plan

John Edwards
-Require everyone to get health insurance, subsidized by employers and the government
-Pay for it by rolling back tax cuts for households earning over $200,000.
-Require employers to provide insurance or contribute to cost, with subsidies for low-income people.
-Create regional nonprofit pools that offer private plans and at least one public plan like Medicare.
-Expand Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program to serve adults below the poverty line and children and parents below 250 percent of the line.

John Edwards for President-Health Care

Barack Obama
-Require that all children have health insurance
-Pay for it by rolling back tax cuts for households earning over $250,000; aims for universal coverage.
-Require employers to provide insurance or contribute to the cost. Exempt smallest businesses.
-Reimburse employers for catastrophic health costs.
-Provide subsidies for low-income people. Create purchasing pool with choice of competing private plans and one public plan like Medicare.
-Expand Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In | Health Care

Rudy Giuliani
-Free market, consumer based system
-Opposes mandate requiring everyone obtain health insurance
-Tax deductions for health care expenses: $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families. Provide additional tax deductions to low-income households.
-Allow people to buy insurance across state lines.
-Expand health savings accounts by simplifying the rules and regulations to participate in them.

JoinRudy2008 :: Issues

Mike Huckabee
-Free market, consumer based system
-Opposes mandate requiring everyone obtain health insurance
-Use stats as "laboratories for new market-based approaches"
-Tax credits for low-income households
-Make plans portable from one job to another

Mike Huckabee for President - Issues

John McCain
-Free market, consumer based system
-Opposes mandate requiring everyone obtain health insurance
-Make plans portable and accessible across state lines.
-Provide $2,500 tax credits ($5,000 for families)
-Move to compensate medical providers based on the quality of their work
-Bring greater competition to drug markets by safe reimportation of drugs and streamlining the process for introducing generic drugs.

John McCain 2008 - John McCain for President

Mitt Romney
-Free market, consumer based system
-Opposes mandate requiring everyone obtain health insurance
-Give states flexibility to create programs and deregulate their insurance markets
-Make all health care expenses deductible
-Give tax credits for insurance not provided by an employer.

Health Care