Related Posts: Reforming the U.S. Healthcare System

In the January 8, 2008 New Hampshire Primary, Sen. Clinton edged her opponent Sen. Obama by just 3 percent. With Clinton’s recent New Hampshire win following Obama’s strong showing in Iowa, the race is anything but decided.

How will the 2008 Presidential Elections affect the American healthcare scene? Should Hillary win the November Presidential Election, what can we expect?

According to Hillary Clinton’s own website, her plan, which she calls the American Health Choices Plan, would cover each and every single American and will improve “healthcare by lowering costs and improving quality.”

So far, it sounds like an excellent idea.

The Hillary Plan is has five objectives. Again, from her website, they are:

1. Offer New Coverage Choices for the Insured and Uninsured.
2. Lower Premiums and Increase Security
3. Promote Shared Responsibility
4. Ensure Affordable Health Coverage For All
5. [Be] A Fiscally Responsible Plan That Honors Our Priorities.

Who could be against such a plan? It’s definitely an ambitious plan. Is it too ambitious? From what I’ve heard, it has been toned down a lot since HillaryCare, the plan Senator Clinton was pushing for in 1992.

One of the things she hopes to do is to guarantee access to healthcare coverage. Under this plan “insurers must offer coverage to anyone who applies and pays their premium” and furthermore, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Fabulous, no?

I just wonder how she intends to do this. Ask nicely? I doubt it. This would have to be mandated by federal law. And will the industry kindly step back without sending their lobbyists in?

Usually, a tipping point must be reached before significant change can happen. If Americans are fed up with the current situation, and their congressional representative are in tune with their constituents, maybe this is possible. I hope that is the case. I also worry that I’m just being optimistic or that I am underestimating the resolve of corporations to keep making money.

The objectives are noble. Coverage for all. Budget savings for the federal government. Tax breaks that will help the working person afford healthcare. Guaranteed coverage.

But HillaryCare 2.0, as some have started to call it, is not without its critics. They claim that this is just socialized medicine repackaged for an American audience.

If, come Inauguration Day, we begin to say Madame President, Hillary Clinton can begin trying to implement her plan.

Details of the plan can be found at HillaryClinton.com.