FACTBOX: Presidential candidates' health plans
(Reuters) - Following are details of health-care plans offered by the U.S. presidential candidates:
DEMOCRATIC NEW YORK SEN. HILLARY CLINTON
Clinton's plan, estimated to cost about $110 billion per year, would require all Americans to get health insurance.
Under a public-private partnership, they would keep existing coverage or choose from private insurance options that members of Congress receive.
Individuals could also choose a public plan similar to Medicare, which creates new federal subsidies for those who can't afford coverage and imposes new mandates on large employers to provide health insurance or help pay for it.
Small business would receive tax breaks to provide health coverage. The plan would force insurance companies to give coverage to everyone, ending discrimination based on preexisting conditions.
Drug companies would also be required to offer fair prices.
DEMOCRATIC ILLINOIS SEN. BARACK OBAMA
Obama's plan would cover all children, and nearly all Americans.
Obama would create a national public insurance program to allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health care similar to that available to federal employees.
No one would be turned way or charged more due to illness and subsidies would be available to those who need them.
Employers would have to contribute toward coverage for their employees or toward the cost of the public plan.
A national health insurance exchange would reform the private insurance market.
REPUBLICAN ARIZONA SEN. JOHN MCCAIN
McCain emphasizes containing costs rather than covering the uninsured.
He has proposed a $2,500 tax credit for low-income individuals and $5,000 for low-income families who obtain their own insurance.
McCain's plan would not force anyone to leave an employer-based program and would seek solutions for those with preexisting medical conditions, including creating gap coverage and working with states that create insurance pools for high-risk individuals.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
