Krugman: Only Clinton Achieves Universal Healthcare, Obama Won't

Universal Health Care: Only One Candidate's Plan Achieves It

(and it sure ain't one of the Republicans)

The New York Times's Economist and Columnist, Paul Krugman's analysis and bottom line: If Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, there is some chance that we’ll get universal health care in the next administration. If Obama gets the nomination, it just won’t happen.

...the difference between the plans could well be the difference between achieving universal health coverage — a key progressive goal — and falling far short.

Obama's plan costs more than 80 percent as much as Clinton's and covers only about half of those 47 million currently uninsured

...the Obama-type plan would cost $4,400 per newly insured person, the Clinton-type plan only $2,700.

That doesn’t look like a trivial difference ... One plan achieves more or less universal coverage; the other, although [Obama's plan] costs more than 80 percent as much, covers only about half of those currently uninsured.

Krugman's complete explanation of his analysis is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/opinion/04krugman.html