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http://www.newsmax.com/politics/obama_health_care/2007/11/21/51234.html
Obama Criticizes Rivals on Health Care
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. -- Democrat Barack Obama complained on Wednesday that rivals
Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards have promised to mandate health care
coverage without providing specifics on enforcement or affordability.
The presidential candidate fielded questions on a New Hampshire public radio
call-in program and discussed his improved standings in state polls in Iowa
and New Hampshire.
"When Senator Clinton or Senator Edwards say they're going mandate health
care, but they haven't talked about either how to enforce it, or how to make
it affordable to people, then it's not really a mandate. Anymore than if we
mandate that people get car insurance. But (if) they can't afford it, they
just don't get it," Obama said.
He said his plan correctly focuses on making health coverage affordable.
Addressing the 47 million uninsured, Clinton has proposed a plan that would
require every American to purchase insurance, either through their jobs or
through a program modeled on Medicare or the federal employee health plan.
Businesses would be required to offer insurance or contribute to a pool that
would expand coverage. Individuals and small businesses would be offered tax
credits to make insurance more affordable.
Central to Edwards' plan is a so-called "individual mandate," requiring
everyone to have health insurance the way most states require drivers to
have auto insurance. Employers would have to insure their workers or pay
into a government program that would provide coverage.
Obama's plan retains the employer-based insurance system and creates a
public plan to expand coverage. But his plan does not include an individual
mandate, leading critics to say it falls short of offering truly universal
coverage.
The Illinois senator has defended the plan, arguing that until the cost of
coverage is vastly reduced, many consumers wouldn't be able to buy insurance
even if they were required to do so.
Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, also responded again to Clinton's
recent argument that the country can't afford to give on-the-job training to
its next president.
"These criticisms generally come from people who have been in Washington for
a very long time and haven't done anything on the issues that are precisely
the concern of the American people," Obama said, citing health care and
energy.
A recent poll in New Hampshire showed Obama still trailing Clinton, but he
had cut her lead nine percentage points since September. A survey in Iowa
showed Obama up by a few percentage points, within the poll's margin of
error.
"We just campaigned more in Iowa and we just started running television ads
in New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago, so people are still getting a sense
of who I am here in New Hampshire, what I stand for," Obama said.
"We are not entirely surprised that some of that hard work is starting to
pay off."
Obama Criticizes Rivals on Health Care
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. -- Democrat Barack Obama complained on Wednesday that rivals
Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards have promised to mandate health care
coverage without providing specifics on enforcement or affordability.
The presidential candidate fielded questions on a New Hampshire public radio
call-in program and discussed his improved standings in state polls in Iowa
and New Hampshire.
"When Senator Clinton or Senator Edwards say they're going mandate health
care, but they haven't talked about either how to enforce it, or how to make
it affordable to people, then it's not really a mandate. Anymore than if we
mandate that people get car insurance. But (if) they can't afford it, they
just don't get it," Obama said.
He said his plan correctly focuses on making health coverage affordable.
Addressing the 47 million uninsured, Clinton has proposed a plan that would
require every American to purchase insurance, either through their jobs or
through a program modeled on Medicare or the federal employee health plan.
Businesses would be required to offer insurance or contribute to a pool that
would expand coverage. Individuals and small businesses would be offered tax
credits to make insurance more affordable.
Central to Edwards' plan is a so-called "individual mandate," requiring
everyone to have health insurance the way most states require drivers to
have auto insurance. Employers would have to insure their workers or pay
into a government program that would provide coverage.
Obama's plan retains the employer-based insurance system and creates a
public plan to expand coverage. But his plan does not include an individual
mandate, leading critics to say it falls short of offering truly universal
coverage.
The Illinois senator has defended the plan, arguing that until the cost of
coverage is vastly reduced, many consumers wouldn't be able to buy insurance
even if they were required to do so.
Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, also responded again to Clinton's
recent argument that the country can't afford to give on-the-job training to
its next president.
"These criticisms generally come from people who have been in Washington for
a very long time and haven't done anything on the issues that are precisely
the concern of the American people," Obama said, citing health care and
energy.
A recent poll in New Hampshire showed Obama still trailing Clinton, but he
had cut her lead nine percentage points since September. A survey in Iowa
showed Obama up by a few percentage points, within the poll's margin of
error.
"We just campaigned more in Iowa and we just started running television ads
in New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago, so people are still getting a sense
of who I am here in New Hampshire, what I stand for," Obama said.
"We are not entirely surprised that some of that hard work is starting to
pay off."
