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The Great Presidential MashupThe Democrats on health care.

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

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Now, I don't know about you. He was very noble and kind about it. I think it is outrageous that in the United States of America somebody could live for five decades not able to talk because they can't get the health care they need. When are we going to actually stand up to these drug companies, these insurance companies? We've got to stop playing nice. We have to beat these people. There is too much at stake for America and too much at stake for people like James Lowe.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich

New Hampshire Debate, June 3, 2007

And the American people should know that with half the bankruptcies in the country connected to people not being able to pay their doctor bills or hospital bills, premiums, co-pays, and deductibles are going so far through the roof, 46 million Americans with no health care, another 50 million underinsured, there is only one way to get health-care coverage for all Americans. And that is to have a universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health-care system, Medicare for all.

I have written the bill. It is HR 676, with John Conyers, supported by 14,000 physicians.

And you know what? What Sen. Clinton, Sen. Edwards, Sen. Obama are talking about, they're talking about letting the insurance companies stay in charge. They're talking about continuing a for-profit health care system. And I think we need a president who is ready to challenge that. And I'm ready to challenge the insurance companies.

AFL-CIO Debate, August 7, 2007

I've introduced a bill. I'm the co-author of a bill, HR 676, to provide for universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care, Medicare for all. Isn't it time to cover every American with a not-for-profit system? Furthermore, 46 million Americans without any health care, 50 million Americans uninsured. You know and I know this is the issue at the bargaining table. With my plan, no more premiums, no more co-pays, no more deductibles. We're already paying for a universal standard of care, we're not getting it. Let's take health care off the bargaining table and put it right in the kitchen where people have the care with a Kucinich plan for universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care.

First of all, you know, my position is to try to lead the Democrats, and so I have a bill for not-for-profit health care, where I've been able to get 72 members of Congress to sign on for it.

Sen. Barack Obama

South Carolina Debate, April 26, 2007

No. 1, I think we should have a national pool that people can buy into if they don't have health insurance, similar to the ones that most of us who are in Congress enjoy right now. It doesn't make sense to me that my bosses, the taxpayers, may not have health insurance that I enjoy. And we can provide subsidies for those who can't afford the group rates that are available.

The second thing I think that we're going to have to do is make sure that we control costs. We spend $2 trillion on health care in this country every year, 50 percent more than other industrialized nations. And yet, we don't have, necessarily, better outcomes. This week, we saw a story that showed that black infant mortality in this country is actually going up in some states, which is shameful and makes no sense. And if we make sure that we provide preventive care and medical technology that can eliminate bureaucracy and paperwork, that makes a big difference.

The third thing is catastrophic insurance to help businesses and families avoid the bankruptcies that we're experiencing all across the country and reduced premiums for families.

New Hampshire Debate, June 3, 2007

By the way, I think John [Edwards] has a lot of good elements in his plan. And I think that as people release their plans, I think there's going to be a lot of overlap, which is a good thing.

But the main disagreement with John and I is John believes that we have to have mandatory insurance for everyone in order to have universal health care. My belief is that most families want health care, but they can't afford it. And so my emphasis is on driving down the costs, taking on the insurance companies, making sure that they are limited in the ability to extract profits and deny coverage; that we make sure the drug companies have to do what's right by their patients instead of simply hording their profits.

If we do those things, then I believe that we can drive down the costs for families. In fact, we've got very conservative, credible estimates that say we can save families that do have health insurance about a $1,000 a year. And we can also make sure that we provide coverage for everybody else. And we do provide mandatory health care for children.

I agree with [Edwards] on the second point, which is, we've got these savings, and we're still going to have to do a little bit more, partly because you've got to invest up front in, for example, information technology, so that rural hospitals that don't have computers are able to buy them—and they're going to need some help.

But on this issue of mandatory versus nonmandatory … if you look at auto insurance, in California, there's mandatory auto insurance–25 percent of the folks don't have it. The reason is because they can't afford it. So John and I, we're not that different in this sense, that I am committed to starting the process. Everybody who wants it can buy it and it is affordable.

If we have some gaps remaining, we will work on that. You take it from the opposite direction, but you're still going to have some folks who aren't insured under your plan, John, because some of them will simply not be able to afford to buy the coverage that they were offered.

CNN/ YouTube Debate, July 23, 2007

John thinks that the only way we get universal coverage is to mandate coverage. I think that the problem is not that people are trying to avoid getting health-care coverage. It is folks like that who are desperately in desire of it, but they can't afford it. And I know from personal experience. My mother, when she was between jobs, contracted cancer, and she spent the last few months of her life trying to figure out whether or not she was going to be able to pay for the treatments. It is an outrage. How is it that the wealthiest nation on Earth cannot afford to provide coverage to all people? And that's why I put forward a plan.

But let's understand this. Everybody here is going to have a plan. John's got a plan. I've got a plan. Hopefully, everybody here will provide a plan for universal coverage. But we've had plan before, under a Democratic president in the '90s and a Democratic Congress. We couldn't get it done because the drug insurance—drug and insurance companies are spending $1 billion over the last decade on lobbying.

And that's why we've got to have a president who is willing to fight to make sure that they don't have veto power. They can have a seat at the table, but they can't buy every single chair when it comes to crafting the sort of universal health care that's going to help the folks that you saw in that video.

Gov. Bill Richardson

South Carolina Debate, April 26, 2007

As Democrats, I just hope that we always don't think of new taxes to pay for programs.

This is what I would do—and I'm a governor; I deal with this issue every day. I deal with the issue of guns every day. I deal with almost everything you asked, as a chief executive.