New York 2006 Senate Debate: on Health Care

Hillary Clinton: We need a uniquely American solution to health care

CLINTON: We need a uniquely American solution to our health care challenges. [For example], I have pushed to have a big pool that small businesses could participate in, like we do in the federal government. Small businesses should be able to join together like the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. There are pieces of things we should do now, but there’s no doubt that we need to have a national conversation-the payers, the employers, the doctors, the nurses, and those of us in public life--we need to get this fixed, once and for all.

SPENCER: I believe in the concept of health savings accounts. That creates jobs instead of punishing corporations and providers of jobs. Cut the taxes, and let them set up health savings accounts. With regards to the small business pools, small business owners say they are not getting help from Sen. Clinton to create associations so they can get the same rate as IBM and General Motors on health insurance. That’s what we need to do.

John Spencer: Supports health savings accounts

CLINTON: We need a uniquely American solution to our health care challenges. [For example], I have pushed to have a big pool that small businesses could participate in, like we do in the federal government. Small businesses should be able to join together like the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. There are pieces of things we should do now, but there’s no doubt that we need to have a national conversation-the payers, the employers, the doctors, the nurses, and those of us in public life--we need to get this fixed, once and for all.

SPENCER: I believe in the concept of health savings accounts. That creates jobs instead of punishing corporations and providers of jobs. Cut the taxes, and let them set up health savings accounts. With regards to the small business pools, small business owners say they are not getting help from Sen. Clinton to create associations so they can get the same rate as IBM and General Motors on health insurance. That’s what we need to do.