At Nevada Forum, Democrats Differ on Health Care

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post

At Forum, Democrats Differ on Health Care
Funding Plans Include Raising Taxes, Ending War, Reshaping the Insurance System
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 25, 2007; Page A05


New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, speaking during a forum on health care in Las Vegas, said his health plan would not require new revenue. (By Eric Jamison-Associated Press)
LAS VEGAS, March 24 -- Democratic presidential candidates were united here Saturday in pledging to provide universal health care to all Americans but differed over how quickly the changes could be achieved and, more important, whether they would have to raise taxes to pay for it.

The candidates addressed what has become perhaps the nation's most intractable domestic issue and all said that, because of rising costs of care and the lack of insurance for about 45 million Americans, incremental steps are no longer adequate.

"What we need is big, bold, dramatic change," former North Carolina senator John Edwards said.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was part of the last significant effort to overhaul the system during her husband's administration. That attempt failed, but the Democratic candidates said Saturday that the conditions exist to push for dramatic change.

But Clinton warned that getting there would still be difficult. "We don't just need candidates to have a plan," she said. "All of them have plans. We need a movement. We need people to make this the number one voting issue in the '08 election."...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401079.html