Word: plan
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...politically fraught domestic challenges, Obama unveiled a detailed health care proposal that he claims would come close to providing health coverage for the 45 million Americans who now lack it, while reducing health care costs of the typical American family by as much as $2,500 a year. The plan, which the Illinois Senator vowed to implement by the end of his first term in the White House, would cost the government an additional $50-$65 billion a year, which Obama said he would pay for by allowing President Bush's tax cuts for those making over...
...Obama's plan contains many of the features of the failed health care proposal pushed more than a decade ago by his rival, Hillary Clinton, that went down in flames in 1994, including its most controversial element: a legal mandate that employers provide coverage for their workers, or pay a percentage of their payroll into a fund for the uninsured. But he insisted that the political climate around the issue has changed dramatically since then, and that businesses are far more open to the idea. "Rising costs have caused many more businesses to back reform," he said in a speech...
...truth, Obama's plan could fall somewhat short of real "universal coverage." It would exempt the smallest businesses from the requirement that they cover their workers. (The exact size of the exemption has yet to be determined, but one campaign official said it would apply to businesses employing "some number less than 15.") And while it would require coverage of children, adults could choose not to take advantage of his plan and go uninsured, even if they could afford coverage...
...Illinois Senator also promised that his plan would pour billions into upgrading medical record-keeping, make hospitals collect and publicly report measures of their own health care quality, and require more generous coverage of preventive care. He also said he would put new emphasis on personal responsibility in health care, although - giving back some ammuniton to his critics - he didn't specify how he would do it. "In the end," he said, "prevention only works if we take responsibility for our own health and make the right decisions in our own lives - if we eat the right foods, and stay...
...Elements of his plan are certain to draw opposition from the increasingly concentrated insurance industry. The most controversial would limit their profits in areas of the country where health insurance is provided by just a few carriers. "We'll investigate and prosecute the monopolization of the insurance industry," Obama said. "And where we do find places where insurance companies aren't competitive, we will make them pay a reasonable share of their profits on the patients they should be caring for in the first place." Strong words, but Obama may yet find out that, on that particular proposal...