The following are the major points from Barack Obama's platform.
Full text is available here.
Quality, Affordable and Portable Coverage for All
Obama's Plan to Cover Uninsured Americans:- Guaranteed eligibility
- Comprehensive benefits
- Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles
- Subsidies
- Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs
- Easy enrollment
- Portability and choice
- Quality and efficiency
- Create a National Health Insurance Exchange
- Employers will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan
- Create a Small Business Health Tax Credit
- Mandatory Coverage of Children
- Expansion Of Medicaid and SCHIP
- Flexibility for State Plans
Lower Costs by Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System
Helping Patients:- Support disease management programs
- Coordinate and integrate care
- Require full transparency about quality and costs
- Require providers to report preventable medical errors and support hospital and physician practice improvement
- Align incentives for excellence
- Comparative effectiveness research
- Tackle disparities in health care
- Strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance
- Lowering Costs Through Investment in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems
- Barack Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases
- Lower prescription drug costs
Fight for New Initiatives
- Advance the Biomedical Research Field
- Fight AIDS Worldwide
- Support Americans with Disabilities
- Improve Mental Health Care
- Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning
- Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution
- Support Americans with Autism
The following are the major points from John McCain's platform.
Full text is available here.
Making Health Insurance Innovative, Portable and Affordable
- Use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability
- Every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance
- Making Insurance More Portable
- Encourage And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) For Families
A Specific Plan of Action: Ensuring Care for Higher Risk Patients
- Care For The Traditionally Uninsurable
- Work With States To Establish A Guaranteed Access Plan
- John McCain Will Promote Proper Incentives
A Specific Plan of Action: Lowering Health Care Costs
- Bring greater competition to our drug markets through safe re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generic drugs
- Providing Quality, Cheaper Care For Chronic Disease
- Promoting Coordinated Care
- Promote greater access through walk-in clinics in retail outlets
- Greater Use Of Information Technology To Reduce Costs
- Reforming The Payment System To Cut Costs
- Promoting The Availability Of Smoking Cessation Programs
- Encouraging States To Lower Costs
- Passing Medical Liability Reform
- Bringing Transparency To Health Care Costs
- John McCain Will Develop A Strategy For Meeting The Challenge Of A Population Needing Greater Long-Term Care
Combating Autism in America
- McCain has continually supported research into its causes and treatment