CLINTON OBAMA McCAIN Single Payer
Universal Coverage Promised; estimate 45 million additional covered Promised: estimate 23 Millionadditional insured; Encourages states to develop own plans No information; Possible 8 million more insured Yes
Individual Mandate (people required to buy insurance) Yes Only for children; Says mandates are punitive and unenforceable No Automatic enrollment in public plan
Medicaid/Schipp expansion Yes Parents/children up to 250% FPL; childless adults up to 100% No N/A
Employer Play or Pay Yes Yes, in markets where insufficient competition to offer variety of plans No Workers and employers  pay into a single fund.
Private Insurance Markets Keep plans if desired; Options are to buy into FEHBP or a public program similar to Medicare; comprehensive benefits New Group National Health Insurance Exchange to help people buy private plans with same benefits as Congress; Public plan options to families without coverage and small businesses. Private plans available with portability across state lines Limited to coverage of benefits not in public plan
Drugs Negotiate prices in Medicare part D and new plan Negotiate prices in Medicare part D and new plan; increase generics; allow reimportation Increase generics and permit re-importation Negotiate pricing. All necessary drugs covered
Subsidies for low-medium income Tax Credit to premium > X% of income Sliding scale premium; offers subsidies; reinsurance for catastrophic coverage Tax credit of $2500 for individuals and $5000 for families Not needed
Regulation of Insurance Markets Yes; guaranteed issue, community rating, and minimum"loss ratios" Yes; guaranteed issue, subsidies where needed;  portability; disclosure of % of premium paid for claims No guaranteed issue or community rating; Allow insurance to be sold across state lines and business to purchase through any organization or association Not needed
Changes to employer tax exemption Yes; caps tax exclusion for incomes > $250,000 No Unclear No
  Clinton Obama McCain Single Payer
Quality and Efficiency Measures Improve Information Technology; Pay for Performance; chronic disease management; malpractice reform; transparency; preventive services, malpractice reform Improve Information Technology; Pay for Performance; chronic disease management; malpractice reform; transparency; Malpractice reform Improve Information Technology; Pay for Performance; chronic disease management; malpractice reform; transparency; Malpractice reform Federal Office of Quality Control; Eliminates inefficiences of multiple payers
Costs . Candidate claims a cost of $102 Bill. Does not address out of pocket costs; Others estimate it costs taxpayers $124 billion per year  Candidate claims a cost of $50-65 Bill. Does not address out of pocket costs. Others estimate it costs taxpayers $102 billion per year, and covers half of ininsured. No information; Promotes competition in insurance markets and providers which increases cost shifting; Promotes innovative delivery sytems; experiments by states;  Expected to reduce overall costs even with elimnation of co-pays and deductibles
Funding Source Not clear; Relies on cost savings: roll back tax cuts to the rich. Not clear; Relies on cost savings: roll back tax cuts to the rich. Relies on cost containment measures to make insurance affordable Income taxes
Administratively Simple Slightly better; enrollment will be complicated. Slightly better; enrollment will be complicated Worse than current system; fragmentation of care and admin waste remain problems Much better than current
Pools Risks Broadly Slightly better Slightly better No change from current system Better 
Comments Heavy reliance on funding through savings from information technology, reduced Medicare HMO payments, negotiated drug prices; Guranteed issue and community rating will cause increase in premiums or deductibles. Cannot get universal coverage without some kind of mandate; overlooks out of pocket costs; Guranteed issue and community rating will cause increase in premiums or deductibles. Heavy reliance on consumer responsibility, tax credits and information technology. Will have minimal reduction in uninsusred. Truly universal; Has best impact on admin waste; Least hassle for beneficiary; 
Affordability Premiums may be affordable but co-pays and deductibles likely to go up with increased regulation  Premiums may be affordable but co-pays and deductibles likely to go up with increased regulation  Major shifting of costs to consumer Savings of >$300 billion passed on to consumer.