Hillary Clinton Genuflects to the Health Insurance Industry
Clinton Health Plan Outlined All Americans Would Be Required to Have Insurance
By Beth Fouhy Associated Press Monday, September 17, 2007; A04
DES MOINES -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's sweeping health-care proposal, which she plans to unveil today, would require every American to carry health insurance and offer federal subsidies to help reduce the cost of coverage.
The proposal, Clinton's first major effort to achieve universal health coverage since an ill-fated 1994 plan, carries a price tag of about $110 billion per year. The centerpiece of her "American Health Choices Plan" is an "individual mandate" requiring everyone to have health insurance -- just as most states require drivers to purchase auto insurance.
"It puts the consumer in the driver's seat by offering more choices and lowering costs," said Neera Tanden, Clinton's top policy adviser. "If you like the plan you have, you keep it. If you're one of tens of millions of Americans without coverage or don't like the coverage you h…