Topics in the News: Universal Health Care
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Jun 4, 2008
I’ve got a health plan and a plan to get it implemented
I’ve got a plan for creating universal health care, shepherding that through Congress so that I can actually sign a bill, then executing and implementing that.
You know, those are things that I worry about.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: ABC News: 2008 election interview with Charlie Gibson
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Mar 18, 2008
AdWatch: Got health insurance for six million kids
Clinton campaign ad, “Obligation”:
Narrator: She fought for universal health care long before it was popular. Got health insurance for six million kids, and expanded access to health care to the National Guard. Now she’s the only candidate for
president with a plan to provide health care for every American. A top economist calls Hillary’s plan the difference between achieving universal health coverage--and falling far short. If you believe health care is America’s moral obligation, join her.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org analysis of 2008 campaign ad, “Obligation”
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Feb 26, 2008
Many uninsured are young & don’t think they need coverage
CLINTON: About 20% of the people who are uninsured have the means to buy insurance. They’re often young people who think they’re immortal.OBAMA: Which is why I cover them.
CLINTON: Except when the illness or the accident strikes. And what Sen.
Obama has said, that then, once you get to the hospital, you’ll be forced to buy insurance, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We ought to plan for it, and we ought to make sure we cover everyone. That is the only way to get to universal health care
coverage. But if we don’t even have a plan to get there, and we start out by leaving people, you’ll never ever control costs, improve quality, and cover everyone.
OBAMA:
With respect to the young people, my plan specifically says that up until the age of 25 you will be able to be covered under your parents’ insurance plan, so that cohort that Sen. Clinton is talking about will, in fact, have coverage.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2008 Democratic Debate in Cleveland
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Feb 26, 2008
Universal health care means anyone who wants it can get it
CLINTON: I think it’s imperative that we stand as Democrats for universal health care. I’ve staked out a claim for that. Sen. Edwards did. Others have. But Sen. Obama has not.OBAMA: Well, look, I believe in universal health care, as does Sen. Clinton.
And the point of the debate, is that Sen. Clinton repeatedly claims that I don’t stand for universal health care. And, you know, for Sen. Clinton to say that, I think, is simply not accurate.
Every expert has said that anybody who wants health care under my plan will be able to obtain it. President Clinton’s own secretary of Labor has said that my plan does more to reduce costs and as a consequence makes sure that the people who need health
care right now, all across America, will be able to obtain it. And we do more to reduce costs than any other plan that’s been out there.
CLINTON: [Leaving out a mandate is the same as saying] that we shouldn’t try to get everyone into health insurance.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2008 Democratic Debate in Cleveland
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Feb 26, 2008
Young adults up to age 25 can be covered under parents’ plan
CLINTON: About 20% of the people who are uninsured have the means to buy insurance. They’re often young people who think they’re immortal.OBAMA: Which is why I cover them.
CLINTON: Except when the illness or the accident strikes. And what Sen.
Obama has said, that then, once you get to the hospital, you’ll be forced to buy insurance, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We ought to plan for it, and we ought to make sure we cover everyone. That is the only way to get to universal health care
coverage. But if we don’t even have a plan to get there, and we start out by leaving people, you’ll never ever control costs, improve quality, and cover everyone.
OBAMA:
With respect to the young people, my plan specifically says that up until the age of 25 you will be able to be covered under your parents’ insurance plan, so that cohort that Sen. Clinton is talking about will, in fact, have coverage.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: [X-ref Clinton] 2008 Democratic Debate in Cleveland
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Feb 21, 2008
Tired of health insurance companies deciding who live or die
When I took on universal health care back in ‘93 and ‘94, it was against a firestorm of special interest opposition. I was more than happy to do that, because I believe passionately in getting
quality affordable health care to every American. I don’t want to leave anybody out. I see the results of leaving people out. I am tired of health insurance companies deciding who will live or die.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Feb 21, 2008
Universal health care will not work if it is voluntary
Obama has a mandate for parents to be sure to ensure their children. I agree with that. If we don’t go and require everyone to have health insurance, the health insurance industry will still game the system. Everyone of us with insurance will pay the
hidden tax of approximately $900 a year to make up for the lack of insurance. Edwards made a great point. It would be as though Social Security were voluntary. Medicare, one of the great accomplishments of President Johnson, was voluntary.
I do not believe that is going to work. You look at what will work and what will not work. If you do not have a plan that starts out attempting to achieve universal health care, you will be nibbled to death, and we will be back here with more
and more people uninsured and rising costs. Obama recognizes that unless we have some kind of restriction, we will not get there. He’s also said that if people show up at a hospital sick, without health insurance, maybe at that point you can fine them.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Jan 30, 2008
Against enforcement mechanism for mandating insurance
CLINTON: [Obama & I] do have differences on health care. I believe absolutely passionately that we must have universal health care. It is a moral responsibility [to] move us to universal health care.OBAMA: About 95% of our plans are similar. We both
set up a government plan that would [cover] pre-existing conditions. We both want to emphasize prevention. But I emphasize reducing costs. If we provide subsidies to those who can’t afford it, they will buy it. Sen. Clinton has a different approach.
She believes that we have to force people who don’t have health insurance to buy it, or there will be a lot of people who don’t get it. But if you are going to mandate the purchase of insurance & it’s not affordable, then there’s going to have to be some
enforcement mechanism that the government uses. And they may charge fines to people who already don’t have health care, or take it out of their paychecks. And that, I don’t think, is helping those without health insurance. That is a genuine difference.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate in Los Angeles before Super Tuesday
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Jan 30, 2008
Taxpayers pay for drug R&D, not drug companies
We’ve got to make it clear to the drug companies that they do deserve to be part of the solution, because we all benefit from the life-saving remedies they come up with, but we pay for it many times over. It is American taxpayers who pay for the research
& a lot of the clinical studies. That’s why, while we’re looking at getting to universal health care, we also have to give Medicare the right to negotiate with drug companies to get the price down, to begin to rein in those costs across the board.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate in Los Angeles before Super Tuesday
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Jan 21, 2008
Need a health care system that manages chronic diseases
We need a universal health care system where we manage chronic diseases, where we get prices down because we can bargain with the drug companies, where we say to the health insurance companies that they must cover everyone, they have to do it at an
affordable rate. For people who might have some financial challenges, I am proposing health care tax credits that will make health care for everyone affordable. That that is the right way to go, because if we don’t have everybody in the system, we know
what will happen. The health care companies will continue to cherry pick. The hidden tax that comes when someone does finally show up at the emergency room will be passed onto everyone else. So I am adamantly in favor of universal health care.
We will have a system to make it affordable, but it will be required, as part of shared responsibility, under a new way of making sure that we don’t leave anybody out and provide quality, affordable health care for everyone.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Democratic debate
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Jan 21, 2008
Universal health care is a core Democratic principle
If you don’t start out trying to get universal health care, we know--and our members of Congress know--you’ll never get there. If a Democrat doesn’t stand for universal health care that includes every single American, you can see the consequences of what
that will mean. It is imperative that we have plans, as both John and I do, that from the very beginning say, “You know what? Everybody has got to be covered.” There’s only three ways of doing it. You can have a single-payer system, you can require
employers, or you can have individual responsibility. My plan combines employers and individual responsibility, while maintaining Medicare and Medicaid. The whole idea of universal health care is such a core
Democratic principle that I am willing to go to the mat for it. I’ve been there before. I will be there again. I am not giving in; I am not giving up; and I’m not going to start out leaving 15 million Americans out of health care.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Democratic debate
Mitt Romney on Health Care
: Dec 9, 2007
FactCheck: MA employers have no mandates, but “requirements”
Romney made some questionable statements about the Massachusetts universal health care plan he signed into law, saying he opposed employer mandates: “When I said government mandate, I meant employer mandate.”Massachusetts may not call its rules for
employers a “mandate,” but the state health care plan includes several “obligations” or “requirements,” as the state dubs them, for employers, along with fees for noncompliance. The requirements for employers are much narrower than those for individuals,
who indeed, according to the state, face a “mandate” to get health insurance.
But is a “requirement” a “mandate”? You be the judge: Employers with more than 10 full-time employees must pay at least 33% of employee premium costs or have a group health
plan. Those that fail to do so must pay a fee of $295 per full-time employee per year.
Individuals in the state must have health insurance. If not, they’ll lose their personal exemption on state income taxes in 2007--a penalty of $219.
Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2007 Republican primary debate on Univision
Mitt Romney on Health Care
: Dec 9, 2007
FactCheck: No, MA healthcare plan is not paid for, yet
As for the cost of the Massachusetts universal health care program, Romney said, “It cost us no more money to help people buy insurance policies that they could afford than it was costing us before, handing out free care.” Romney can’t yet make the claim
that it has been completely paid for with the state’s “free care” money--funds used to pay for emergency health care for the uninsured.The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimated that the state would need an extra $200 million each year for
2007 to 2009 to finance the health care plan, because more people enrolled in subsidized care than anticipated. That shortfall, however, is a projection, and a Boston Globe article on the budget gap said some money could be shifted from the free care
fund, if there is money in that fund to do so. Additional dollars came from a Medicaid waiver granted by the federal government, which is set to expire in 2009. The Massachusetts government is negotiating with federal officials to renew that waiver.
Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2007 Republican primary debate on Univision
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Nov 15, 2007
Problem isn’t mandating coverage, but affording it
I do provide universal health care. The only difference between Clinton’s plan and mine is that she thinks the problem for people without health care is that nobody has mandated, forced them to get health care. What I see are people who would love to
have health care & can’t afford it. My plan that makes sure that it is affordable to get health care as good as the health care that I have as a member of Congress. That’s what the American people are looking for & what I intend to provide as president.
Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Nov 15, 2007
FactCheck: Coverage plan might leave 8.5 million uninsured
Both Clinton & Obama dabbled in exaggerations on their opponents’ health care plan. Clinton said, “His plan would leave 15 million Americans out. I have a universal health care plan that covers everyone.” Obama responded, “I do provide universal health
care.” Clinton uses a dubious statistic when she claims Obama’s plan would leave out 15 million of the uninsured. But Obama’s statement that his proposal provides “universal” health care is also suspect. Clinton based her claim on a column by The New
Republic’s Jonathan Cohn, who loosely estimated Obama’s plan would leave 15 million uninsured. Cohn offered an estimate based on the best information available, not a hard and fast calculation. The best available information says that Obama’s plan would
leave between 8.5 million uninsured, up to 18 million people uninsured if Obama has no individual mandates. The Obama plan does include limited mandates, including a requirement for employers to either provide health insurance or pay into a public fund.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Nov 15, 2007
Health care tax credit ensures affordability
I helped to create the children’s health insurance program back in 1997. I am totally committed to making sure every single child is covered. I provide a health care tax credit under my American Health Choices
Plan so that every American will be able to afford the health care. I open up the congressional plan, but there is a big difference between Obama and me. He starts from the premise of not reaching universal health care.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
Barack Obama on Health Care
: Sep 13, 2007
Government healthcare like members of Congress have
Q: You favor universal coverage for everyone without exception?A: That’s correct. Part of the reason that you’re confused about the candidates’ differences is because the differences probably matter less than the commonalties. All of the major
Democratic candidates are advocating some form of universal health care. The question is, how do we get there? My proposal says:
- We will set up a government program similar to the one that I utilize as a member of Congress, that anybody who wants
to can buy into, that we will subsidize those who can’t afford it.
- That we will pay for those subsidies by imposing a set of cost-saving measures that will actually improve quality at the same time that they lower costs.
- Using health IT,
information technologies, not just for billing but for maintaining medical records, for communicating between doctors and nurses and pharmacists.
- To reduce errors and reduce bureaucracy.
- Managing the chronically ill.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: Huffington Post Mash-Up: 2007 Democratic on-line debate
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Sep 9, 2007
No parent should be told ‘no’ for healthcare for their kids
Q: As first lady, your attempt to establish universal health insurance failed. What did you learn so you can be successful the next time? A: Well, I am very proud that we tried to provide universal health care to every American back in 1993 and 1994.
I learned a lot from that, and I’m going to be presenting a plan next week that will be universal. It will cover everyone, and it will make it clear that we as a rich nation with the values that should be the best in the world will once
& for all make it absolutely positive that everyone will have health care. Now it’s not only about the 47 million uninsured. Millions of insured Americans don’t get the health care they paid for. We have
a lot of people who, all of a sudden, their child needs an operation and the insurance company won’t pay for it. Well, we’re going to make it clear that there will be no parent who ever is told no when it comes to getting health care for their children.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate on Univision in Spanish
Barack Obama on Principles & Values
: Sep 6, 2007
Turn the page: invite GOP & independents to join in agenda
Q: You go around the country saying it’s time to turn the page. Are you talking about the Bushes, the Clintons or both? A: What I’m talking about is ending the divisive politics that we have in this country. I think it is important for us as
Democrats to be clear about what we stand for. But I think we also have to invite Republicans and independents to join us in a progressive agenda for universal health care, to make sure that they are included in conversations about improving
our education system and properly funding our public schools. I think turning the page means that we’ve got to get over the special interest-driven politics that we’ve become accustomed to.
And most importantly it’s important for us to make sure that we’re telling the truth to the American people about the choices we face.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College
Barack Obama on Tax Reform
: Jun 28, 2007
Reduce Bush tax cuts to pay for health care & other programs
Q: Do you agree that the rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes? A: There’s no doubt that the tax system has been skewed. And the Bush tax cuts--people didn’t need them, and they weren’t even asking for them, and that’s why they need to be less,
so that we can pay for universal health care and other initiatives.
But I think this goes to a broader question, and that is, are we willing to make the investments in genuine equal opportunity in this country? People aren’t looking for charity.
We talk about welfare and we talk about poverty, but what people really want is fairness. They want people paying their fair share of taxes. They want that money allocated fairly.
One of the distressing things about
Katrina was the fact that we have not made systematic investments. And the only way we’re going to make it is by making sure that those of us who are fortunate enough to have the money actually make a contribution.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University
Rudy Giuliani on Health Care
: Apr 27, 2007
No socialized medicine; give vouchers to the poor
Rudy Giuliani accused his Democratic rivals of embracing health care plans that would amount to socialized medicine. Responding to comments in the first Democratic primary debate Thursday night, Giuliani claimed
Democrats favor “mandatory” universal health care and the plans would only exacerbate the cost of care by putting the system in the hands of bureaucrats. “They’re moving toward socialized medicine so fast, it’ll make your head spin,”
Giuliani said, adding that private solutions could help bring down the cost of care. “When we want to cover poor people, as we should, we give them vouchers.”
Democratic candidates renewed their calls for universal health care during a debate in South Carolina, saying that a new system would help streamline costs and cover the nation’s 45 million uninsured.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: Mike Baker, Associated Press, apnews.com
Hillary Clinton on Health Care
: Feb 21, 2007
Universal health care coverage by the end of my second term
Q: Many experts project that it would cost between $90 billion and $120 billion to actually achieve universal health care for everyone in America. Is comprehensive reform achievable financially? A: We already spend more money than anybody else in the
world, by about $800 billion, and we have 47 million uninsured. We’re also at a competitive disadvantage because other countries either provide health care or don’t, and our companies are trying to be competing in a global economy. So I want to figure
out how we provide universal health care without putting billions more into the system. Let’s get prescription drug prices down by negotiating with the drug companies, for example. I am going around the country, and I’m asking people’s advice, then
I’m going to be proposing a specific plan. You know, President Kennedy said in his inauguration that he wanted to have a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Well, I want to have universal health care coverage by the end of my second term.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada
Barack Obama on Principles & Values
: Feb 15, 2007
Replace partisan bickering with politics of hope
Obama called for universal health care, energy independence, an effective policy to stem global warming, and an end to loud and uncivil, Rush-Limbaugh-like public discourse. “We have come to be consumed by a
24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative-ad, bickering, small-minded politics that does not move us forward,” he said in
Portsmouth, aiming his critique at both Republicans and his own party as they glowered across a gaping, ever-widening partisan gulf. “Sometimes one side is up, and the other side is down.
But there is not sense that they are coming together in a common-sense, practical, nonideological way to solve the problems that we face.”
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: Hopes and Dreams, by Steve Dougherty, p. 17-18
Barack Obama on Energy & Oil
: Feb 10, 2007
Harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol
Let’s be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy.
Let’s be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in America by the end of the next president’s first term.Let’s be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil.
We can harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol and spur the production of more fuel-efficient cars. We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming
into a moment of opportunity for innovation, and job creation, and an incentive for businesses that will serve as a model for the world. Let’s be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: Speech in Springfield, in Change We Can Believe In, p.198-9
Donald Trump on Health Care
: Jul 2, 2000
We must have universal health care
I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on health. It is an unacceptable but accurate fact that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 42 million. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our
greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal healthcare. Our objective [should be] to make reforms for the moment and, longer term, to find an equivalent of the single-payer plan that is affordable, well-administered, and
provides freedom of choice. Possible? The good news is, yes. There is already a system in place-the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program-that can act as a guide for all healthcare reform. It operates through a centralized agency that offers
considerable range of choice. While this is a government program, it is also very much market-based. It allows 620 private insurance companies to compete for this market. Once a year participants can choose from plans which vary in benefits and costs.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.206-208 & 218