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The Great Presidential MashupThe Democrats on health care.

Updated Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, at 10:22 AM ET

(Continued from page 1)

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AFL-CIO Debate, Aug. 7, 2007

Let me say one quick thing on this health-care issue. Every member of Congress up here has a pretty good health-care plan; I want Americans to have as good a health-care plan as members of Congress have.

Sen. John Edwards

South Carolina Debate, April 26, 2007

I'm proud of the fact that I have a very specific universal health-care plan, which I think is different than some others on the stage who are running for president.

And I think we have a responsibility, if you want to be president of the United States, to tell the American people what it is you want to do.

Rhetoric's not enough. Highfalutin language is not enough. And my plan would require employers to cover all their employees or pay into a fund that covers the cracks in the health-care system–mental-health parity, which others have spoken about; chronic care; preventative care; long-term care; subsidized health-care costs.

Give people a choice, including a government choice; no pre-existing conditions–banned as a matter of law. And the law actually requires that every single American be covered.

CNN/ YouTube Debate, July 23, 2007

More women have difficulty getting the health care that they need than men do. And I was the first person to come out with a comprehensive, truly universal health-care plan.

The only way to provide universal coverage is to mandate that everyone be covered. But I want to say, you know, I came out with a universal plan several months ago. A couple of months later, Sen. Obama came out with a plan. He's made a very serious proposal, and I'm not casting aspersions on his plan. I think it's a very serious proposal. It just doesn't cover everybody. The only way to cover everybody is to mandate it.

And the stories we have just heard, from diabetes, to Alzheimer's to cancer—there are millions of people in this country who are suffering so badly. And just this past week—in fact, you were with me on the third day—I went on a three-day poverty tour in America.

The last day, I was with a man in western Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains—51 years old, three years younger than me. He'd been born with a severe cleft palate, and he was proud of the fact that someone had finally volunteered to correct it. He had not been able to talk—I want to finish this. He had not been able to talk until it was fixed.

Here was the problem. It was fixed when he was 50 years old. For five decades, James Lowe lived in the richest nation on the planet not able to talk because he couldn't afford the procedure that would've allowed him to talk. When are we going to stand up and do something about this?

We have talked about it too long. We have got to stand up to the insurance companies and the drug companies that Barack just spoke about. It is the only way we're ever going to bring about real change. We should be outraged by these stories.

New Hampshire Debate, June 3, 2007

Let me say, first, I think it's a very healthy thing that we have Democrats coming out with health-care plans. This country's health-care system is completely dysfunctional. I am proud of the fact that I was the first person to come out with a specific, truly universal health-care plan.

Sen. Obama came out with a plan just a few days ago, which I don't believe is completely universal, but he deserves to be credited because he laid out what the cost is, and exactly how he was going to pay for it. I do believe that—and by the way, you didn't say this, but my plan costs $90 billion to $120 billion a year. I'd pay for it by getting rid of Bush's tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year.

And I believe you cannot cover everybody in America, create a more efficient health-care system, cover the cracks, you know, getting rid of things like pre-existing conditions and making sure that mental health is treated the same as physical health, I don't think you can do all those things for nothing. That's not the truth. And I think people have been so sick of listening to politicians who come and say, "We're going to give you universal health care. We're going to change the way we use energy in America. We're going to strengthen the middle class, have middle-class tax cuts, and, in the process, we're going to eliminate the federal deficit."

Washington, D.C., Debate, June 28, 2007

We have two health-care systems in America, and we know that race plays an enormous role in the problems that African-Americans face and the problems that African-Americans face with health care every single day. There are huge health-care disparities, which is why we need universal health care in this country. But we have work to do. All of us have work to do. And by the way, also making sure that every single American, including people of color, are allowed to vote and that their vote is counted in the election and that we know that their voice is heard in the election.

AFL-CIO Debate, Aug. 7, 2007

I have a very simple view about this. My view is that we ought to treat the pensions and the retirement of the chairmen and CEOs of companies exactly the way we treat every other worker in the company and we ought to have universal health care in this country. We need it in the worst kind of way so that when you're bargaining, you're not bargaining about health-care costs.

But I want to say one other thing. I intend to be the president of the United States who walks onto the White House lawn and explains to America how important unions and organized labor is to the future and the economic security of this country. It is fine to come up on this stage and give a nice talk. The question is, who's been with you in the crunch? In the last few years, 200 times I have walked picket lines. I have helped organize thousands of workers with 23 national unions. I have worked with employers.

I asked James Lowe, who's 51 years old, who I referred to in a previous debate, who's from Virginia, to be here tonight. He was born with a severe cleft palate and lived 50 years of his life in America without being able to speak because he couldn't get the health care that he needed.