Clinton’s Health Care Overhaul Expected To Be Announced in Steps
Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to date has "proposed only modest changes to the existing system, while avoiding the vexing question of how to provide coverage for all," AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
After trying to recast the nation's health care system as first lady, Clinton now is "promising a more consensus-based approach to health care reform if she is elected president," according to AP/Newsday.
According to aides, Clinton, who says she has adopted "the school of small steps," will announce her health care proposals in a series of speeches that focus on different areas of the system, with universal health insurance scheduled for last.
Clinton last month offered a proposal to reduce health care costs, and she plans to offer a proposal to improve health care quality later this summer.
Meanwhile, presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) have "laid out sweeping health care reform plans," and Democratic activists "say the time for caution is long past and ... want answers from Clinton," AP/Newsday reports.
Robert Borosage, president of Campaign for America's Future, said, "One of the problems with being last out of a gate is that it's hard to be seen as leader," adding, "She has a lot of credibility for taking scars the last time, but she's got a lot of doubters, too. She needs to step up to the bat."
Yale University political scientist Jacob Hacker said, "After the searing experience she's had on health care, she's intent on reassuring voters she's a moderate Democrat on the issue," adding, "I just fear her campaign policy folks are trying to come up with a perfect mix, threading the needle between left and right" (Fouhy, AP/Long Island Newsday).