Major Democratic and Republican presidential candidates' "priorities reflect widely differing views of the role of government in addressing complex problems," including health care, AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

Among Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) have announced proposals that would expand health insurance to all U.S. residents. Clinton and Edwards have estimated that their proposals would cost close to $100 billion annually, and Obama has estimated his proposal would cost $50 billion to $60 billion annually, AP/Newsday reports. All three candidates have said that they would finance their proposals in part through the elimination of tax cuts proposed by President Bush and approved by Congress for higher-income residents.

Among Republican candidates, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have announced health care proposals but have not estimated the cost of their plans. Giuliani has announced a proposal that would provide tax credits to help residents purchase private health insurance. He has not discussed a plan to finance the proposal.

McCain has announced a proposal that would provide tax credits to help residents purchase private health insurance, as well as promote efforts to reduce costs and treat chronic diseases. According to McCain aides, he would finance the proposal in part through the elimination of a provision in the tax code that allows employers to deduct the cost of health insurance. Romney has announced a proposal under which the federal government would use funds currently provided to states to cover the cost of care for the uninsured to allow states to help low-income residents who do not qualify for public health insurance programs to purchase private coverage. He has said that the proposal is budget neutral (Fouhy, AP/Long Island Newsday, 10/17).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.