The Orbis

Issue date: 10/2/07 Section: News/Features

Clinton recently unveiled her "American Health Choices Plan."

After much anticipation, Hillary Clinton revealed the third part of her $110 billion health care proposal which promises to "ensure that all Americans have affordable, quality health insurance." Her plan comes after all the other top Democratic candidates have laid out their proposals, which some have seen as an attempt to further separate herself from the other candidates. Clinton has commented on her health proposal twice before, only promising that it would "rein in costs" and "insist on value and quality" and offering no real insight into the workings of the plan. The final installment of the Clinton health care plan, dubbed the American Health Choice Plan, requires all people to have health insurance. Even though Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has attacked her on the grounds that she was drawing "her inspiration from European bureaucracies," her plan is very similar to Massachusetts healthcare requirements signed into law by Romney as the governor of the state.

Under the Clinton plan, those with health insurance will be able to keep their current plan through their employer or through individual coverage. Those without insurance or those who want to change their health coverage will be able to choose from "the same quality private health care options that members of congress enjoy," via a new "Health Choices Menu" that will be established through the already existing Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). A third option will be a public plan similar to Medicare, but not funded through the Medicare trust fund.

The plan also promises to strengthen Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) to cover all low-income individuals, and offer tax credits to individuals and small businesses to help pay for the cost of health care. Most importantly the plan would limit the premium payments to a certain percentage of a household income.

Clinton is not new to the battle for universal health care. She launched an unsuccessful campaign for universal coverage in 1993 while her husband was in the White House. Both Barack Obama and John Edwards have commended Clinton for releasing her plan, both claim her plan to be similar to their own, but both maintain that their plans will do more to solve the problems with health care in America. On this point, Edwards takes the higher ground since his plan, like Clinton's, will mandate universal coverage.

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