Without An Enforcement Mechanism, Clinton's "Mandate" is Optional

[Colobo]

Obama's Health Care Plan Saves Families and the Health Care System More
'The American people are looking for a President who's honest about the challenges we face, and that's why it's unfortunate that Senator Clinton continues to misrepresent Senator Obama's health care plan and her own. The truth is, Barack Obama's universal plan makes health care affordable by doing more to cut costs than any other proposal in this race, and he will cover every American by offering subsidies to those who can't afford it. Like many other issues, Senator Clinton still refuses to tell the American people exactly how she will penalize them when they can't afford to purchase health insurance,' said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

From today's New York Times: If Massachusetts Can't Achieve Universal Coverage With an Enforceable Mandate, How Can Hillary Clinton do it Without One? 'A year after Massachusetts became the only state to require that individuals have health coverage, residents face deadlines to either sign up or lose their personal tax exemption, worth $219 on next year's state income tax returns. More than 200,000 previously uninsured residents have enrolled, but state officials estimate that at least that number, and perhaps twice as many, have not. Those managing the enrollment effort say it has exceeded expectations. In particular, state-subsidized insurance packages offered to low-income residents have been so popular that the program's spending may exceed its budget by nearly $150 million. But the reluctance of so many to enroll, along with the possible exemption of 60,000 residents who cannot afford premiums, has raised questions about whether even a mandate can guarantee truly universal coverage.'

Clinton Advisors Concede Her Plan Will Not Cover Everyone. 'MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber, one of Clinton's health care advisers, describes her plan as a 'universal coverage' plan, in contrast to the Obama plan, which he terms a 'universal access' plan. But he also acknowledges that the Clinton plan will not include everybody. 'Any system that does not have a single payer will not have 100 per cent coverage,' he told me, when I reached him after the Las Vegas debate. 'But you can come very close.''

Clinton Said That She Did Not Have Any Punitive Measures To Enforce The Mandate Of Her Health Care Plan. Hillary Clinton said about the mandate in her health care plan, 'At this point, we don't have anything punitive that we have proposed. We're providing incentives and tax credits which we think will be very attractive to the vast majority of Americans.'





Clinton claims to provide just as much savings as the Obama plan does but, by their own estimate, the Obama plan saves the health care system billions more - and each family hundreds more.
Personal Savings:
Obama's plan will save the typical family up to $2,500 per year. In addition to the savings Senator Clinton has proposed, Obama's plan includes reinsurance, which provides additional savings for each family. Health care experts who evaluated the Obama plan, David Cutler, David Blumenthal, and Jeff Liebman, estimate that it will provide up to $2,500 in savings for a typical family.

Clinton's plan says "The Business Roundtable estimated $2,200 in national health savings for the typical family."

System-wide Savings:
Health care experts' analysis of the Obama plan says, "A conservative estimate would be that the plan will produce savings of $120 billion per year. Our 'best guess' is that savings of $200 billion per year will be achieved by this plan."

Clinton's plan calls for "Improving Quality for All and Achieving at least $120 Billion Per Year in Savings"

More at:
http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/11/25/fact_check_without_an_enforcem.php

Fact Check- Debunking FactHub, One Fact at a Time. :)

[Colobo]

1. Kick!

[journalist3072]

2. Very interesting that the Obama supporters always take Hillary supporters to task

for posting stuff from Hillary's fact-check website.

I'm just saying.....