America is the only major industrial country to have a large number of its citizens without any health coverage at all; the number has been steadily growing during the last decade – today, estimates say that approximately one in seven Americans has no health cover. Add to this the growing number of ‘under-insured’ Americans and you have health as one of the major election issues.

Most presidential hopefuls, even Republican ones, are mentioning health and explaining that important changes have to be implemented. A recent survey showed that Democrats place the issue of health right up there with Iraq.

While Republican presidential hopefuls claim they will make health insurance cheaper and more accessible, with tax concessions and market changes, the Democrats would like to see universal health cover, involving a combination of private and public plans.

All the Democratic hopefuls are pushing for universal coverage – they just differ on how they would go about achieving it. So far, none of them has suggested there should be a health plan run by the state, as is the case in such countries as the United Kingdom. However, some have commented that Hillary Clinton’s proposals would shift regulatory authority from the individual states to the federal government.

The term ‘universal coverage’ is not being used by the Republicans – their aim is to make access universal. Whichever way you want to look at it, Republicans are definitely talking in a way they have not done so for a very long time. They want to move away from the employer based system, towards tax breaks and the individual insurance market.

Hillary Clinton is seen as the Democratic candidate who is most likely to get what she proposes done, according to polls of Democratic voters. This is despite the fact that she tried 14 years ago when she was the First Lady, and failed.

Former Governor Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts when it took a big step towards universal coverage for citizens of the state – Romney is a Republican. So far, Romney has not banged the health drum.

— Hillary Clinton’s Health Proposal
— Barack Obama’s Health Proposal
— John Edward’s Health Proposal
— Mitt Romney’s View on H. Clinton’s Proposal
— Rudy Giuliani’s Health Proposals
— John McCain campaign web site – I found nothing on health

Written by: Christian Nordqvist