Clinton unveils health care plan in Iowa

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, whose first attempt at a health care overhaul fell flat 13 years ago, unveiled a broad proposal on Monday to require health insurance for all Americans and make it more affordable.

The proposal would mandate coverage for 47 million uninsured Americans but maintain a role for private insurance companies in what she said would be a simplified system with more choices for consumers.

"It is time for us to come together and start living up to our values, to provide quality affordable health care for every single American," the New York senator said in a speech in the early voting state of Iowa.

Clinton is the last of the top Democratic candidates to roll out all of her proposals for an overhaul of the health care system and coverage for uninsured Americans, one of the prime issues in the November 2008 White House race.

Her plan includes individual mandates for coverage of all Americans, similar to the plan by rival John Edwards but not included in Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's proposal.

It also provides tax credits for Americans who cannot afford insurance and small businesses straining to provide it, offers more choices for coverage, ends discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and expands Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Clinton's advisers said the plan would cost about $110 billion a year, paid for through a combination of cost savings and the expiration of some of President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the most wealthy.

The plan is less dramatic than Clinton's failed 1994 initiative, when her husband Bill Clinton was president. She said she learned from that proposal, which was seen as overly bureaucratic and required employers to provide coverage through tightly regulated health maintenance organizations.