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Hillary to unveil health plan
17/09/2007 11:11 - (SA)
Iowa - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is unveiling a sweeping health care reform proposal on Monday that would require every American to carry health insurance and offer federal subsidies to help reduce the cost of coverage.
With a price tag of about $110bn per year, Clinton's "American Health Choices Plan" represents her first major effort to achieve universal health coverage since 1994, when the plan she authored during her husband's first term collapsed.
The former first lady said she learned from that experience, which almost derailed Bill Clinton's presidency and helped put Republicans in control of Congress for years to come.
Aides said she jettisoned the complexity and uncertainty of the last effort in favour of a plan that stresses simplicity, cost control and consumer choice.
The centrepiece of Clinton's plan is the so-called "individual mandate", requiring everyone to have health insurance - just as most states require drivers to purchase auto insurance.
Rival John Edwards also offered a plan that includes an individual mandate, while the proposal outlined by Barack Obama does not.
"It puts the consumer in the driver's seat by offering more choices and lowering costs," said Neera Tanden, Clinton's top policy adviser.
"If you like the plan you have, you keep it. If you're one of tens of millions of Americans without coverage or don't like the coverage you have, you will have a choice of plans to pick from and you'll get tax credits to help pay for it."
Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner in the 2008 campaign, has already laid out proposals to improve health care quality and reduce costs.
She was to release her universal health care plan in Iowa, the first voting state.
- AP
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