True or False?

There've been a lot of charges and counter changes flying between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on health care. His plan would allegedly leave out 15 million people; hers is more expensive. He put out a misleading flyer; she's misrepresenting his plan.

The issues came up again in Tuesday's debate between the two in Cleveland, Ohio. If you're feeling confused about them and want to try and sort out fact from fiction, here are a few places you can start.

The St. Petersburg Times web site has a feature called PolitiFact that dissects statements made by the candidates, including health care. Another site, factcheck.org, examined a flyer put out by Obama that criticized Clinton's health care plan.

And if you're interested in mandates, you can read our Q&A on the subject, along with a detailed look at the candidate's plans.

The good news for voters is that health care issues have been getting serious attention in the debates. That's definitely a step in the right direction.

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor, WebMD

Jarret Cassaniti contributed to this entry.

Nader Running for President

In an election year of unexpected twists, here's another one: Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says he's launching another run for the White House as a third-party, independent candidate.

Nader made his announcement Sunday morning to Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press." Nader said U.S. citizens are "feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized, disrespected" and someone needs to take a stand against "corporate-friendly" government policies agreed to by both Republicans and Democrats.

As for his stand on health care, he says, in a "civics test" on his web site Votenader.org, that he "supports a single payer, Canadian style, free choice, Medicare for all health care system."

In another part of his site that compares his stances to Democrats and Republicans, he says adopting a single payer national health insurance system is "on the table."

Nader told Russert that "all the candidates -- McCain, Obama and Clinton -- are against single payer health insurance, full Medicare for all. I'm for it."

First, though, he has to raise enough signatures (and a little more money no doubt) to get on ballots. But as in 2000 and 2004, when he has also ran, he says he's steadfast in his attempt, despite the odds against him.

The message is what matters, Nader told Russert: "Dissent is the mother of ascent. And in that context, I have decided to run for president."

We will be updating our WebMD election special "Health Matters in the 2008 Election" and adding Nader to our candidate comparison chart, even though details are slim on his proposals at this point.

For clear and up-to-date coverage of the health issues in this election, stay with WebMD. We'll keep you posted.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WeMD

Mandate QA

While Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton share similar platforms on health care, they have one key difference: Clinton wants to mandate that everyone have health insurance, Obama does not. (He would mandate it for children, but not for adults.)

The topic has come up frequently in the Democratic debates, and did so again again when the pair faced off Thursday in Texas.

So what exactly is a mandate, and why has it become such a point of contention between the two?

In a recent webcast, the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation brought together views from across the political spectrum to discuss the issue. This "Ask the Experts" broadcast included analysis from the Cato Institute, the New America Foundation, and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The answers below are compiled from that webcast, unless otherwise noted.

What is an individual mandate?
An individual mandate requires everyone have a health insurance plan that meets minimum standards set at the state or federal level. The idea is to make sure all citizens, regardless of financial or employment status, be insured.

What are the pros for having an individual mandate?
Providing health care for everyone is a common social and moral value, and individual mandates are one strategy that aims to do so. Mandates also force people who are uninsured and can afford insurance to buy it, eliminating the financial burden they pass on to those with insurance.

They also provide an alternative to forcing employers to provide insurance and stop short of adopting a single-payer, government-run health care system, both of which face significant political hurdles.

What are the cons?
Individual mandates take away the personal freedom to decide how to spend your money. To be effective, a mandate needs to be enforced, possibly with mechanisms that would be difficult to put into practice and which might penalize those who are already socially or financially burdened.

How would a mandate be paid for?
Individual mandates would be paid for directly by individuals and priced on a sliding scale as a percentage of their income. For those who cannot afford to pay, subsidies would be provided at taxpayer expense.

How would it be enforced?
A New York Times article speculated that people might be fined or have deductions taken from their paychecks. In Massachusetts, residents will have to report whether they have insurance on their state income tax forms and can be penalized if they don't. The maximum penalty now is $219, but that may rise to $912.

How have they worked in other places?
In Massachusetts, the only state to have used individual mandates in health reform, the jury is still out. While it boosted enrollment of the uninsured and the underinsured (those with insurance not meeting some minimum standards) to 300,000, the New York Times says this number amounts to only half the uninsured statewide.

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was governor while the Massachusetts reform was passed, was not proposing a similar plan for the nation.

California is also debating whether to adopt individual mandates.

Why have individual mandates become a point of contention between Clinton and Obama?
In their debate in California on Jan. 31, both candidates argued over the use of individual mandates as a tool to achieve their health care goals.

"I believe absolutely passionately that we must have universal health care," Clinton said.

She said that people who don't have health insurance but can afford it should pay their fair share: "And it's also important to recognize that right now, there are people who could afford health care, and they are not all young, they're people who just don't feel they have to accept that responsibility."

She also proposes reforming the health care industry so that no one is denied affordable health care based on an ongoing problem, and funding mandates in part by repealing the Bush tax cuts on those earning over $250,000.

Obama has said that the uninsured would be motivated to buy a plan when costs are reduced: "My belief is that if we make it affordable, if we provide subsidies to those who can't afford it, they will buy it."

He also believes that individual mandates will not work without an enforcement mechanism, and that any mechanism is likely to punish those who need help: "And I think that it is important for us to recognize that if, in fact, you are going to mandate the purchase of insurance and it's not affordable, then there's going to have to be some enforcement mechanism that the government uses. And they may charge people who already don't have health care fines, or have to take it out of their paychecks. And that, I don't think, is helping those without health insurance.”

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor, WebMD

Reported by Jarret Cassaniti.

Health Care Call to Action

How well do you know the presidential candidates' health care plans? If you're like most people, you probably know at least the basics: they want universal coverage or they don't. They favor tax breaks or government support.

Today, a group called the Aspen Institute Health Stewardship Project, co-chaired by former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, said they want to help us evaluate some of those plans in even greater detail. The group, during a press conference today, offered what they called "core principles" to guide health care reform.

One of the principles, for instance, is that while we must have accessible and affordable health care for everyone because it is "socially just," prevention must also be key. Another is that people need to take charge of their own health.

Leaders of the project, part of the nonpartisan Aspen Institute, said they will send their principles and detailed questionnaires to the presidential candidates to better evaluate their plans, and will publish their results on the site.

If it sounds pretty wonky, that's because it is. The fine print of health care reform surely makes most people's eyes glaze over. But, as Whitman pointed out during the press conference, the next president will have to deal with this issue. Since it's something that touches us all, we need to inform ourselves and understand their plans as best we can.

That is, of course, one of the goals of WebMD's election coverage. So take the time to look through our coverage to better understand what the candidates are proposing. And once the Aspen Institute has published the candidates' answers, we'll let you know about that, too.

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor, WebMD

Jarret Cassaniti contributed to this report.

Staying Healthy on the Campaign Trail

She washes her hands and drinks lots of water.

He works out, religiously.

While the approaches differ, both are part of a good strategy for good health.

"They" are Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who answered questions during an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday night about how they stay healthy on the campaign trail.

And who doesn't want to know their secrets? We see them everyday, looking good, sounding good (except for bouts of hoarseness here or there), and having what seems like unlimited energy.

But, as is true with most things related to health, there were no magic bullets.

Clinton talked about washing her hands all the time, drinking "tons of water" and eating hot peppers. "I for some reason started doing that in 1992, and I swear by it -- I think it keeps my metabolism revved up and I think it helps my immune system," Clinton told Katie Couric. (Some studies have shown that red peppers can boost your metabolism slightly, but the effects are short-lived.)

She also lamented finding time to work out.

Obama told Steve Kroft that he was "religious about getting my exercise, so I've been working out every morning and that helps." He said he had only had two colds and that he plays basketball on election day.

Their comments came during a larger interview about who would be the better candidate to face Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the general election.

And if you want to know more their health habits, along with those of the other remaining candidates, you can read more about them on our Candid Candidates page. It's part of our overall package on the candidates and their health care platforms.

Valarie Basheda
Managing Editor, WebMD

Patrick Adams contributed to this entry.

Romney Suspends Campaign

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has decided to suspend his campaign for president, essentially giving Sen. John McCain a clear path to the nomination.

He made the announcement Thursday while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Super Tuesday was obviously the knockout blow to Romney's campaign, which never got off the ground the way he had planned. A big part of that was the surprising rise of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, who most likely drained votes from Romney.

Romney -- although he disagreed with McCain on many issues -- said he was concerned that staying in the race would make it easier for senators Clinton or Obama to win. "In this time of war I feel I now have to stand aside."

By "suspending" his campaign, Romney keeps his delegates until the Republican convention.

Although he engineered a mandated health insurance program in Massachusetts, Romney said such a system wouldn't work on a national basis and his health platform planned to provide access to health insurance for all Americans through market reforms rather than new government programs or new taxes.

If you want to know more about Romney, you can still find out about him in our "Who's Dropped Out" section of our election special "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

As for the dwindling number of remaining candidates still in the fight, both Republican and Democrat, you can see how they face off on health, a major concern for voters, in our candidate comparison chart.

And you can always get the latest news from around the country on the remaining primaries and caucuses on our election news page.

A Healthy Election

Super Tuesday was no doubt less than super for the health of some candidates' campaigns.

But with huge turnouts at the polls, democracy is alive and kicking. A presidential race that many think keeps ending with each coming primary, keeps going. The driving force changes from person to person and candidate to candidate, but health is still strongly in the mix.

The economy has been driving people to the polls for both parties, but for Democrats, health care seems to be a bigger component of that equation, and of those people, more of them voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton than Sen. Barack Obama, according to Tuesday's exit polls.

But here's something to remember: As much as the economy drives people to the polls, the reality is that the president, any president, has marginal impact on the economy at large. They get blamed for it when it's bad, or take credit for it when it's good, but they often can't really do a lot to control it from the oval office.

But health care, now that's a bellwether issue. That's not to say that the next president will be able to change the health care system to suit everyone. But where a candidate stands on health care can tell you a lot about that candidate's values, what they find important, and yes, how they think about economics and where they place resources, remembering that economics is a social science. It's all about the people.

Of course, you can find out where the candidates stand on health care in this election, how they compare, and how they differ, in our special, "Health Matters in the 2008 Election."

More and more, it's starting to seem that who you vote for may be one of the most important health care decisions you make this year.

Sean Swint
Executive Editor, WebMD

Speaking of Health: A Q&A With Michelle Obama

WebMD asked the spouses of the leading candidates to answer some questions about personal health. Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama, was the first to respond. Here are her answers.

Your father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was a young man. What impact did that have on you?
My father taught me so much about work ethic. He was a blue collar city worker -- worked his whole adult life at the water filtration plant on the south side of Chicago. He got up - went to work everyday - never complained - was never late. I knew he must have been frustrated with the physical restraints he had to contend with, as I never knew my father to walk without the assistance of a cane. But he also provided for our family - he did not go to college, but he was able to put two kids through Princeton on a single city worker salary - which is almost impossible today - and leave my mother a pension that now supports her.

How do you manage to work exercise into your busy schedule?
I make it a point to get in a good work out when we're home for a day or two between campaign trips. It's an incredible release and a priority for me.

Is it possible to eat healthy while you are campaigning? If so, how do you so it?
You know, it's tough. Really tough, when you spend a lot of time driving between stops and want to focus on meeting with voters and not sitting down to eat a healthy meal. But I make sure the girls eat right all the time, and I eat healthily when I'm home, so it's ok for a treat when we're working hard on the road.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure food?
French fries. Always.

With all the intense pressure and scrutiny you face during a campaign, not to mention the exhausting pace, how do you and Sen. Obama de-stress your relationship?
We talk all the time - mostly about our girls - they keep us grounded and laughing. When Barack is home and the weather is nice, we take bike rides, we go to the museum, we play games, and we enjoy being around each other. He and I also try to squeeze in a dinner date every now and then.

Tell me about a good experience and a bad experience you had seeking health care.
One bad experience is what we saw with Barack's mother. She was battling cancer and was sadly forced to spend time near the end of her life worrying about health insurance coverage, and whether she'd be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. This is something that has profoundly affected Barack - and it's why he is so committed to enacting universal health care coverage that gives every American the quality of care that he receives as a member of Congress.

What are your best and worst health habits?
I love to work out - it's cathartic for me, and I make it a point to get a good work out in when I'm home from the campaign trail. At the same time, I love French fries. We just got back from South Carolina, and some of my favorite stops on our campaign swing were at some great barbeque and fried chicken spots across the state. You just can't beat a good plate of barbecue.

Do you have a personal health philosophy?
I talk a lot on the campaign trail about the importance of mental, physical and spiritual health. We as women have a lot on our plates - we're always juggling. Every woman I know, regardless of race, education, income, background, is struggling every day to keep her head above water. We've been told we can have it all, but lose ourselves in the process. We need to put ourselves higher on our own to do lists. I know that's hard for so many, so we also need to ensure we give women and families the resources they need to not only survive, but thrive.

Name the first time a health condition altered your daily living.
Not sure of the first health condition, but I know one important health issue to impact our daily lives is our oldest daughter's asthma. Malia's asthma has encouraged us to keep stimulants out of our house that could irritate her breathing.

Source: Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Communications Director for Michelle Obama.