Take Back America 2007 Conference: on Health Care

Barack Obama: Health plan cuts typical family’s premium by $2,500 a year

It goes further than any other proposed plan in cutting the cost of health care by investing in technology and preventive care so that children are getting regular check ups instead of having to go to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma, and by breaking the stranglehold of the drug companies and the insurance industries--we are tired of them dictating our health care markets--and helping businesses and families shoulder the cost of the most expensive conditions so that an illness doesn’t lead to bankruptcy. And I promise you this: I will sign a universal health care plan that covers every American by the end of my first term as president.

John Edwards: Mental health parity: treat it just like physical health

I’m confident, during the course of this campaign, that some candidate will say, listen, we’re going to have universal health care, and in the process, we’re also going to eliminate the federal deficit. Is it finally time for us to have a president of the United States that will be honest with the American people?

It costs money to have universal health care. I will be the first to say it. My plan costs $90 to $120 billion a year. It’s not cheap, but I pay for it by getting rid of Bush’s tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 dollars a year.