Monday, February 04, 2008 Election
2008
Democratic Presidential Candidate Clinton Discusses
Enforcement Mechanism for Health Insurance Mandate
Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) on Sunday during an
appearance on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" discussed her
proposal to require all U.S. residents to obtain health insurance and
"inched closer ... to explaining how she would enforce" the requirement
but "declined to specify -- as she has throughout the campaign -- how she
would penalize those who refuse," the New York Times reports. Asked whether she
would garnish wages to enforce the mandate, Clinton said that "we will
have an enforcement mechanism, whether it's that or it's some other
mechanism through the tax system or automatic enrollments" (Sack,
New York Times, 2/4). Clinton explained she believes "there
are a number of mechanisms" that could work including "going after
people's wages." Clinton also said that the enforcement mechanism would
apply only to residents who can afford health insurance but refuse to
purchase coverage, adding that, with her proposals for subsidies, "it will
be affordable for everyone" (Babington, AP/Houston Chronicle, 2/3).
She also
said that the focus on an enforcement mechanism took attention from
differences in her health care proposal and the plan announced by rival
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). His proposal would require health
insurance only for children and would leave some residents without
coverage, she said.
Bill Burton, a spokesperson for Obama, said
that Clinton "again refused to directly answer the question" about the
enforcement mechanism. He added, "America needs a leader they can trust,
not someone who will avoid hard questions."
Obama Campaign Mailer
The Obama campaign last week
distributed a mailer that said, "Hillary's health care plan forces
everyone to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it ... and you pay a
penalty if you don't" (New York Times, 2/4).
Neera
Tanden, policy director for the Clinton campaign, said that the Clinton
health care proposal includes subsidies to help residents cover the cost
of health insurance, as well as provisions to reduce the cost of coverage.
According to Tanden, Obama "betrays the cause of universal health care."
She added, "For a potential Democratic nominee to be attacking universal
health care is quite stunning" (Fouhy, Associated Press, 2/1).
The Clinton
campaign also criticized the mailer for the use of images that resemble
those used in the "Harry and Louise" television advertisements aired by American's Health Insurance
Plans in the 1990s to help defeat her health care proposal. Len
Nichols of the New
America Foundation said, "I am personally outraged at the picture used
in this mailing," which he called a "Harry and Louise evocation" (Smith,
"Ben Smith" blog, The Politico, 2/1). A link to a portion of
the mailer is available online at politico.com.
David Axelrod, chief
strategist for the Obama campaign, defended the mailer. He added that the
Clinton campaign has "spent a lot of money in this campaign to distort our
health care plan" (Zeleny/Healy, New York Times, 2/2).
Burton also
noted comments by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), who endorsed Obama last
week. "It's the passion of my life, universal comprehensive health care,
and I wouldn't support Barack Obama unless I was absolutely convinced that
he was for universal comprehensive health care as well," Kennedy said.
"I've tried for 38 years to get the universal comprehensive health care.
I've supported 12 different proposals to try to get there. Elect Barack
Obama and we will get there" (Associated Press,
2/1).
Also, according to the New York Times, "A group
of doctors and health policy analysts, including a number of Obama
advisers, pointed out in a letter released Thursday that Massachusetts,
the only state with an insurance mandate, has thus far failed to enroll
nearly half of its uninsured despite imposing a modest first-year tax
penalty of $219 (the fine increases significantly this year)." A copy of
the letter is available online at huffingtonpost.com.
Clinton would not
"allow exemptions from the insurance mandate, as Massachusetts does,"
according to the Times (New York Times, 2/4).
Clinton Addresses Health Care at Campaign Events
Clinton on
Saturday during an event at the California State University-Los Angeles that targeted
Hispanic voters said, "My opponent will not commit to universal health
care." She added, "I do not believe we should nominate any Democrat who
will not proudly stand here today, tomorrow and the next day and say
universal health care is the goal" (Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times, 2/3).
Later on
Saturday, Clinton during an event in Tucson, Ariz., said, "He doesn't have
a universal health care plan, and I think as a Democrat, if we're going to
run against the Republicans, let's run on our principles." She added,
"Unless we get everybody covered with insurance, we'll never be able to
improve health care, reduce costs. We'll never be able to rein in the
insurance companies because they'll always be able to cherry-pick" healthy
residents and reject those with pre-existing conditions (Scarpinato, Arizona Daily Star, 2/3).
Voter Survey
Sixty percent of Democratic voters and 40% of
Republican voters believe that the presidential candidates have not
adequately discussed health care issues in their campaigns, according to a
recent survey conducted by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance.
The
survey found that about 40% of voters said that they are not satisfied
with the health care proposals from the candidates. In addition, 62% of
voters cited breast cancer as the most important health issue for women,
followed by heart disease, and ovarian and cervical cancers, according to
the survey. The survey also found that 71% of Democratic voters and 46% of
Republican voters would support a federal tax increase to expand access to
breast cancer tests and treatment for all women (Grimaldi, CQ
HealthBeat, 2/1).