Hillary Clinton in CNN Late Edition 2007, with Wolf Blitzer

On Health Care: American Health Choices Plan: keep yours or pick Congress’

But if you are one of those 47 million uninsured, or if you are one of the many millions more who actually have insurance except when you really need it and the insurance company won’t pay for what your doctor has prescribed, you will now have the same choices that are available to members of Congress, because we will open up the plan that members of Congress have and give you a health choices menu to choose from.

We will also provide a health care tax credit for those who cannot, on their own, afford it or who don’t have employer help. Similarly, I will provide a new small business health care tax credit because a lot of small businesses tell me that they’d love to be able to help provide health care for their employees, but they just can’t afford it, and we’re going to make it affordable.

On Health Care: Pay for health plan by $52B tax repeal & $77B efficiencies

A: In our system, we have a lot of inefficiencies. Let’s take electronic medical records, because if we were to have a system where everyone had a private, confidential health care record--this is something that I’ve worked on with Newt Gingrich--we would see that we would save a lot of money. If we better managed chronic care, we would save money, because right now we don’t, and we pay a big price for it. My plan has about $52 billion in tax cuts, by moving the tax rates back to the pre-Bush era. And yes, taxes will go up on people making $250,000, but most Americans will see a net tax decrease.

On Health Care: Mandated responsibility by individuals, industry & employers

• You mandate that all Americans would have to buy insurance or face penalties, even young people who may not want it.
• You mandate that large businesse would have to insure employees or pay a tax.
• And you mandate that insurance companies would have to offer coverage to all applicants no matter how sick they are.

A: Well, there is certainly a shared responsibility that goes with having a health care system that both can afford to provide quality affordable health care for everyone and puts responsibility on everyone in our country. Individuals will have to have insurance, but we’re going to make it affordable. The health care industry, the drug industry, are going to have to change the way they conduct business. Business will take responsibility, but within a system that will actually get their costs down.

On War & Peace: No funding that does not move us toward withdrawal

A: I will not vote for any funding that does not move us toward beginning to withdraw our troops, that does not have pressure on the Iraqi government to make the tough political decisions that they have, that does not recognize that there is a diplomatic endeavor that has to be undertaken. This has gone on now, unfortunately, for years, with the president holding on to his failed policy and with Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail deciding to support that failed policy, and it’s really the only way that I can register my very strong disapproval of this policy, and I will continue to do so.

Q: But some of this money goes to protect our troops from mines and IEDs.

A: I think the best way to protect our troops is to start bringing them home.

On War & Peace: Protect troops with body armor then & bringing them home now

• I have fought hard for body armor when the Bush administration was not able or willing to produce it in the quantities that were necessary.
• I’ve fought hard for armored vehicles because we knew that they needed additional protection in Iraq and they weren’t getting it.
• I have stood against the no-bid contracts and the cronyism that has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars that should be going to protecting our troops. But this administration, unfortunately, keeps turning a blind eye to the abuses in the contracting process.
• And I will continue to do everything that I can to protect our troops, starting with trying to get to a policy that will recognize their valor, but also the fact that there is no military solution. Everyone agrees with that. And yet that is the only policy that this administration is willing to support.