After months of political debates and amusing SNL skits, Election Day is finally here. We’ve written several posts about the health insurance and health care views of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, and Joe Biden. For those of you who haven’t voted yet, we thought we’d leave you with a quick re-cap of their ideas on health care reform. We encourage your comments, and we especially encourage you to get out and VOTE!

Democratic View

Barack Obama

Barack Obama encourages the idea of an insurance exchange. With this program, health insurance companies would be more regulated. Every health insurance plan must meet a minimum set of benefits, and subsidies would be provided to low-income families. His reform would also require insurers to cover pre-existing conditions. Obama has also talked a bit about the idea of universal health care - at least for children.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden’s big focus is on the uninsured population. Biden wants to give uninsured Americans an opportunity to purchase an insurance plan similar to Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan, which would allow them to pay on a sliding scale. Similarly, he wants to give older adults the option to buy into early Medicare coverage at age 55. Biden aims to strengthen the Medicare program, expanding it to cover prescription drugs. He also wants to adjust the SCHIP and Medicaid programs to provide more child health insurance coverage. Unlike Obama, Joe Biden does not encourage universal health care coverage.

Republican View

John McCain

John McCain essentially plans to decrease the focus on employer-sponsored health insurance. With his plan, individuals will receive $2500 in tax credits to purchase health insurance, and families will receive $5000. With these tax credits, individuals and families will be able to choose the provider and insurance plan that best matches their needs.  McCain encourages the use of high risk pools, which he believes will help regulate costs. He also encourages purchasing health insurance across state lines, and the portability of health insurance, which allows you to carry your health insurance plan from job to job, or across state lines.

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin supports free market health care, which is quite like what we have now. She believes that health care is a commodity, subject to basic market forces. Palin firmly believes that competition among health care providers and health insurance providers will keep costs low. Like McCain, Palin also encourages the use of a high-risk insurance pool.