Clinton vs. Obama: The Health Insurance Debate

Although the race for the Republican presidential nomination has been all but wrapped up by John McCain, competition is still fierce on the Democratic side. One of the sticking points between candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is health care. While they do share the same opinion on some points, there are many major details that they simply do not agree upon. Obviously, it is difficult to say which candidate has the better plan because they both plan on stepping into uncharted water should they win the White House.

Hillary Clinton has said time after time that she is in favor of a universal health care plan that mandates every American to buy health insurance. While this may sound like a good plan on the surface, Obama disagrees in many areas. The question is: how would a universal plan be enforced?

Obama feels that placing a mandate is not a good idea because he takes issue with forcing people to buy health insurance if they do not want to. Of course, the question is: if Obama is not in favor of a mandate, will the number of uninsured Americans begin to decrease from the approximately 47 million who are currently in this position? Obama plans to make health insurance more affordable as opposed to making it mandatory. He has been quoted as saying, "the reason people don't have health insurance isn't because they don't want it, it's because they can't afford it."

Again, it is difficult to say which candidate has the better plan. Not to mention the fact that John McCain has ideas of his own. Once the Democratic nomination is secured by either Clinton or Obama, the real debate will begin. Will Americans feel more comfortable with McCain's proposed tax breaks, or will they side with one of the plans outlined above by the Democratic hopefuls? This is a question that is sure to be answered by the end of 2008. And then, the real work starts for the next president.