Hillary Clinton on Health Care

Clinton proposes a universal program that extends portable care to all Americans, and gives them several options. If people have insurance and are satisfied with it, they can keep it. Otherwise, they can choose from a private plan similar to what Congress has, or a Medicare-type plan for low-income Americans. She does propose an "individual mandate" requiring all Americans to sign up for health insurance, according to the New York Times. She also says this plan will promote "shared responsibility" between the public, private, and government worlds and will not increase bureaucracy. The estimated annual cost for her plan would be $110 billion, financed by rolling back Bush tax cuts for people making more than $250,000. Clinton also says a lot of her efficiency and modernization reforms would save money.

Health Insurance: Private/Government

• Establish the "American Health Choices Plan" to ensure all Americans have portable, affordable, quality health care.
• Modernize the health care system to guarantee quality, eliminate waste, manage chronic diseases, and emphasize prevention.
• Allow employees to keep their current health plans.
• Provide income-related tax credits to working families to make health-care coverage affordable.
• Establish the "Health Choices Menu" to give Americans the choice to buy group insurance as part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program, which offers a number of insurance options, or a choice of private insurers offering the same benefits.
• Allow states to band together, if desired, to offer similar plans.
• Ensure that insurance companies doing business with the federal government cover high-priority preventive services that have proven to be effective.
• Eliminate insurance discrimination and require automatic policy renewal.
• Require that collected insurance premiums be dedicated to providing high-quality care, not marketing or profits.
• Require large companies to provide health insurance or make a contribution toward it.
• Offer a tax credit to small businesses to begin or continue coverage.
• Bolster the veterans' health care system, offering intense care for veterans suffering traumatic brain injuries or struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Medical Costs

• Emphasize preventive measures to lower health care costs and improve health.
• Promote management of chronic diseases, which account for 75% percent of national health costs and are leading causes of death, according to Clinton's campaign web site.
• Provide funding for a Best Practices Institute to compare effectiveness of treatments and disseminate that information to doctors and patients.
• Accelerate the use of information technology to save on health care spending. The plan claims better use of this technology could save up to $77 billion a year.

Health Savings Accounts

• View health savings accounts and their implementation with skepticism, but allow individuals with insurance that contains a health savings account to keep them.