Health care remains a top voter concern. Here's some help on candidates' stated positions:
Health care remains a top voter concern
February 14, 2008 at 2:15AM
Q Will all Americans be covered by health insurance?
Clinton: Yes. Huckabee, McCain, Obama: No.
Clinton would mandate that all individuals have health insurance. She has not specified how this would be enforced. Obama proposes a stepped approach starting with a mandate to cover all children. Huckabee and McCain oppose mandates.
Q Will employers be required to provide health insurance?
Clinton, Obama: Yes, or pay into a common fund. Huckabee, McCain: No.
Q What help will go to people seeking individual coverage?
Clinton, Obama: New insurance marketplace would offer private and public choices meeting certain standards. Insurers would have to cover anyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions. Tax breaks would make insurance easier to afford.
Huckabee: A deregulated insurance market would provide options, but coverage would not be guaranteed or mandated. Tax breaks address affordability.
McCain: Same, but people could also buy insurance through organizations.
Q Will the federal government be permitted to bargain with drug companies for lower pharmaceutical prices, and will it be legal to import cheaper drugs from other countries? (Both are currently illegal.)
Clinton, Obama, McCain: Yes. Huckabee: No.
Q Will medical research with embryonic stem cells be expanded?
Clinton, Obama, McCain: Yes, with federal funding.
Huckabee: No.
WASHINGTON POST
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While the focus was on Vice President Kamala Harris in their first media interview of the presidential campaign, Walz was asked if voters could take him at his word.
