Drawing health policy distinctions between Obama, Romney

The National Journal notes the two presidential candidates offer clear contrasts when it comes to their positions regarding health insurance. Meanwhile, Roll Call notes that the reported differences in opinions among the Supreme Court justices when they reviewed the health law continue to reverberate during this campaign season. 

National Journal: Obama, Romney Contrasts Clear On Insurance
When the Obama campaign hits expected Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for being the candidate supporting the rich, they aren't often talking about health insurance. But they could be. It is one place where a comparison between Obama and Romney's health policies can be easily seen. And it fits right in with the narrative the Obama campaign has been weaving: Obama is for the everyman, and Romney is for the rich. The details on Romney's plan are vague. His campaign website says he wants to "end the discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance." Under current law, people who get their insurance through employers pay their premiums tax-free. The 30 million Americans who buy insurance on their own don't get those same benefits (McCarthy, 7/28).

Roll Call: Health Care: The Justices Underscore A Divide
California is not exactly the epicenter of the controversy surrounding the 2010 health care law. None of the lawsuits that led to the Supreme Court's decision last month upholding the law came from the West Coast. Unlike so many other governors, the state's chief executive, Democrat Jerry Brown, has supported the law and plans to implement it. Other issues, particularly the economy, are dominating the political discourse there. Still, the two national parties and their allies are hoping that the tremors of the debate will be felt in several of the state's Congressional districts, an unusually large number of which are competitive this year as a result of redistricting (Adams, 7/30).