Candidates Continue Health Care Discussions

Obama said he would try to lower the cost of premiums about $2,500 per worker per year by investing in prevention and information technology.

Obama also spoke in favor of offering small businesses a 50% health insurance tax credit, and he said creating a health program similar to the federal employees’ program – which permits private insurers that meet plan requirements to compete for employees’ business – would offer the uninsured access to the same kind of health care that he and McCain now enjoy.

“Because there’s a huge pool, we can drop the costs,” Obama said. “And nobody will be excluded for pre-existing conditions.”

Obama rejected the idea of letting health insurers sell insurance across state lines.

If insurers licensed in one state can sell coverage in another, insurers “will find a state — maybe Arizona, maybe another state — where there are no requirements for you to get cancer screenings, where there are no requirements for you to have to get pre-existing conditions [covered], and they will all set up shop there,” Obama said.