Democratic Presidential Candidate Clinton ‘Misstates’ Health Care Position of Opponent Obama, Boston Globe Reports

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) "misstated" the health care position of opponent Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) during a campaign event on Thursday in Ohio, the Boston Globe reports. Under her health care proposal, all U.S. residents would have to obtain health insurance. The Obama health care proposal would require health insurance only for children.

At a Hanging Rock, Ohio, community center, Clinton said, "I want ... each and every member of the family to have health insurance. My opponent only wants your children to have health insurance," adding, "I don't think that's smart." In addition, she said, "If you don't have health insurance for everyone, we're never going to get out of this," adding, "We're just going to keep running around in circles."

Obama has "made health care a centerpiece of his domestic agenda" and also "has proposed a detailed plan to cover the uninsured, pledging to have affordable coverage available for all Americans by the end of his first term as president," according to the Globe.

In response to questions about her statements at the community center, Clinton said, "The bottom line is he was not willing to go the distance with a universal health care plan. ... I was drawing that distinction, and I think it's a fair one." She added, "He has a mandate to cover children. He does not have any requirement for adults." Clinton also said, "He has said repeatedly that he is concerned about children. Well, I cover both children and adults, and I wanted to make the case today because I know this, having done this for so many years, that you can give your children health insurance, but if the mother or the father who's the breadwinner can't get health insurance, gets sick, can't go to work, the whole family suffers" (Helman, Boston Globe, 2/29).

Poll
A new poll from NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health examines public support for proposals that would require individuals to obtain health insurance, NPR's "Morning Edition" reports (Knox, "Morning Edition," NPR, 2/29). The poll, which was conducted by telephone from Feb. 14 to Feb. 24, includes responses from a nationally representative sample of 1,704 randomly selected U.S. residents ages 18 and older ("The Public on Requiring Individuals To Have Health Insurance," NPR/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health, February 2008). The poll showed that most U.S. residents feel the issue of the uninsured is an important concern -- 93% said the issue is a serious problem, including 74% who said it is a very serious problem.

About six in 10 people support a broad approach to ensure everyone has coverage that includes a requirement for individuals to get insurance or pay a fine, subsidies for people with lower incomes, a requirement on employers to contribute towards coverage for workers and a requirement that insurers take anyone that applies. About two-thirds also support another approach to expand coverage -- a proposal that would require parents to get health insurance coverage for their children with government subsidies for lower income families. However, the public is more mixed, with about half supporting and about half opposing, on the specific question of an individual health insurance requirement that includes mentions of fines for non-compliance and subsidies for those with lower incomes, but no reference to expanded public programs and requirements on insurers and employers. The poll also looks at how support for the approaches varies among Democrats, Republicans and independents.

The segment included comments from Mollyann Brodie, a Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and director of Public Opinion and Media Research for the Foundation; Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health; and poll respondents ("Morning Edition," NPR, 2/29).

Audio and a partial transcript of the segment are available online.

The full poll results are available online

Editorial, Opinion Piece
Summaries of a recent editorial and opinion piece on health care issues related to the presidential election appear below.

• Akron Beacon Journal: The "similarities are striking" between the Clinton and Obama health care proposals, but only the Clinton plan would require all residents to obtain health insurance, a difference "much magnified" in the campaign, a Beacon Journal editorial states. According to the editorial, Obama is "inviting the belief that universal coverage can be achieved with relative ease and little pain." Clinton, however, "rightly admits" that "some enforcement mechanism will be required to achieve universal coverage" and "correctly" argues that the "benefits of universal coverage for the whole far outweigh the plight of 'free riders'" affected by such a mechanism, the editorial states. The "consensus among experts is that universal coverage will remain beyond reach without a mandate," and a claim by Clinton that the Obama proposal would leave 15 million residents without coverage is supported by two "respected analyses," according to the editorial. Clinton "has the more honest plan" for expansion of health insurance to all residents, the editorial concludes (Akron Beacon Journal, 2/28).
  
  
• Scott Lehigh, Boston Globe: Health care "is a matter Clinton obviously cares deeply about and one she argues knowledgably and well," Globe columnist Lehigh writes. According to Lehigh, her health care proposal, which would require all residents to obtain health insurance, has "won good reviews from experts," and the Obama plan does not include such a requirement. "In comparison to the slippery going" on other issues in the campaign," Clinton "has more traction on health care" because, despite "her unsuccessful 1994 health care battle, it's an issue where her past position reinforces ... her current stand," Lehigh concludes (Lehigh, Boston Globe, 2/29).