Health care debate to produce sharp differences between parties in Presidential election

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday examined how health care will produce "some of the sharpest differences" between Democrats and Republicans in the presidential election as the candidates "respond to increasing economic anxiety about many issues."

According to the Journal, Democratic candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) "want to use government as a lever" to expand health insurance to more U.S. residents. Both candidates would use the federal government to establish a marketplace in which residents could purchase private or public health insurance, with subsidies for lower-income residents, and would prohibit health insurers from rejecting applicants because of pre-existing medical conditions. The most significant difference in the proposals involves the question of whether to mandate that all residents obtain health insurance. Clinton would implement such a mandate, but Obama would require coverage only for children.

Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who "doesn't think it is up to government to ensure that all citizens are insured," would seek to "give people more control" over their health insurance through the free market, the Journal reports. "The centerpiece of his plan is severing the link between health insurance and employment," according to the Journal. McCain would replace a tax break for employees who receive health insurance from employers with a tax credit of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families for the purchase of private coverage. He has said that Clinton and Obama "want government to take over the health care system" (Meckler, Wall Street Journal, 4/19).

Campaign Ads

The Obama campaign has begun to air a television advertisement in Pennsylvania that claims Clinton might garnish wages to enforce the individual health insurance mandate in her health care proposal, the Journal reports (Calmes, Wall Street Journal, 4/21). According to the ad, "Hillary Clinton is attacking, but what's she not telling you about her health care plan? It forces everyone to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it" (Kornblut/Murray, Washington Post, 4/20). In response, a group that supports Clinton has begun to air a TV ad in Pennsylvania that claims the Obama health care proposal would not provide health insurance for all residents (Wall Street Journal, 4/21).

During a speech on Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa., Clinton said that Obama has "misrepresented" her health care proposal. She said that "the last thing we need is somebody spending as much money as he has downgrading universal health care." In addition, Clinton said, "We need to achieve universal health care -- not create political opposition to universal health care," adding, "That's what Republicans do" (Fitzgerald/Infield, Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/21).

Links to these and other ads on health care are available on dedicated candidate pages on the Kaiser Family Foundation's health08.org Web site.

Editorial, Opinion Pieces

Summaries of an editorial and two opinion pieces that address health care issues in the presidential election appear below.

• Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.), Christian Science Monitor: "It is vital that we select a candidate who is both ready to win and ready to start addressing" health care and other issues "beginning on the very first day," and "I have no doubt the best person" is Clinton, Rendell writes in a Monitor opinion piece. He writes, "Can there be any doubt that she is the best person in this country to make sure everyone -- no exceptions -- has affordable high-quality health care?" According to Rendell, "Hillary was fighting to fix America's health care system and cover everyone long before it was popular." He adds, "And now, Hillary is the only candidate in this race to truly offer universal health care that covers everyone" (Rendell, Christian Science Monitor, 4/21).
• Clinton, Philadelphia Daily News: "I'm offering solutions to finally provide health care to every man, woman and child in America" as part of an agenda to address a number of important concerns, Clinton writes in a Daily News opinion piece. Clinton writes, "Under my plan, if you have insurance you like, you keep it. Nothing changes. But if you're uninsured or underinsured, you'll have access to the same health plan that members of Congress have." She adds, "And we'll offer tax credits to make sure everyone can afford it." Clinton writes, "After seven years of President Bush, we know we have our work cut out for us" on health care and other issues, adding, "Today, we need a president with the strength and knowledge to tackle" these challenges starting on day one. ... I'm ready to be that president" (Clinton, Philadelphia Daily News, 4/21).
• Washington Post: McCain "deserves credit" for his proposal last week to require higher-income Medicare beneficiaries to pay higher monthly premiums for the prescription drug benefit, but the "rest of McCain's economic plan" remained at the "other end of the spectrum of responsibility" and "put political advantage over telling unpleasant truths," a Post editorial states. According to the editorial, the proposal would affect only 5% of Medicare beneficiaries and save the program "only about $2 billion over five years," but "it is one sensible step in the battle to control Medicare spending." The proposal, although "minor, as far as dollar amounts go," is "politically risky," and the "howls of outrage with which it was greeted by Democrats illustrate the difficulty of dealing with entitlement spending," the editorial states (Washington Post, 4/21).