Clinton says Obama's health care plan far from universal in its coverage

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused her leading Democratic presidential rival of flinching from the struggle to provide health care for all Americans and said, "I am not afraid of the Republican attacks" on the subject.

"If we don't have universal health care, then we will be betraying the Democratic Party's principles," the former first lady said in her most pointed criticism to date of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Frequently accused of ducking key issues, Clinton said it was Obama who is seeking to finesse a difficult question. "He has called his plan universal, then he has called it 'virtually universal,' but it simply does not deserve that label," she said. "When it comes to truth in labeling, his plan simply flunks the test."

Obama, hoping to parry Clinton, told reporters in a conference call that she was making "more of a political point" than anything else. He said that while her plan nominally requires coverage for all, "she hasn't told anybody how she would enforce this mandate."

He also said his plan focuses more than any other on making health care affordable. "And by doing so I will cover every American," he said.

Clinton's decision to fly to Iowa from South Carolina in order to assail Obama reflected the intensifying campaign a little more than a month before Iowa's caucuses provide the first test of the year for the field of presidential rivals. The former first lady has been the presumptive front-runner nationally and in the state for months. But recent surveys show she, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina are in a tight three-way race.

Unwilling merely to observe the disagreement between his rivals, Edwards issued a statement saying that Obama's approach to health care left people out, while Clinton's contained no plan to enforce a coverage requirement.

Edwards said that unless taxpayers could show proof of insurance, he would automatically enroll them in either a government program or a private one, as appropriate. "Families who lose coverage will be expected to enroll in another plan or be assigned one," said the statement.

While the spiraling dispute testified to the importance of health care in the race for the White House, Clinton's remarks also indicated she wanted to use the issue as a way of challenging Obama's credentials as a reliable Democrat. Whether deliberate or not, it was reminiscent of Al Gore's successful attack in 2000 against his Democratic rival Bill Bradley, whom he said had abandoned the fight against Republicans on numerous issues.

"If anything, Democrats should stand for universal health care. That distinguishes us from the Republicans. The Republicans don't believe in it. Democrats do and we should fight for it," Clinton said.

As first lady nearly 15 years ago, Clinton spearheaded her husband's attempt to achieve universal health care. It failed in the Democratic-controlled Congress, and now she says she is eager to try again.

She said Obama's plan would leave 15 million Americans uninsured, including 100,000 Iowans, about half the population of the capital city, Des Moines.

She also said Obama favors a mandate for coverage of children, a point she said made no sense. "If you believe you can enforce a mandate on children, that means you enforce the mandate on the parents of the children to enroll the children. So why would you leave out the parents?"

Clinton's plan requires all Americans to obtain health insurance. Those without it would be able to choose from among options that are currently available to members of Congress.

Obama says there actually are numerous similarities between his plan and hers, and that by doing more to lower overall costs, his approach would wind up with everyone covered.

Clinton's speech triggered the type of back-and-forth that has become typical of campaigns in the Internet age, with each side searching aging records for information that might discredit the other.

Obama's campaign unearthed several references to Clinton in 1993 and 1994 quoting her as expressing doubts about a Republican senator's plan for a so-called individual mandate. And, the rival camp said, they showed she was now criticizing her opponent for a position she once held.

"Another day, another desperate attack. Demonizing anyone who doesn't share her exact plans on health care is exactly why Hillary Clinton flunked the opportunity she had to pass universal health care in 1993," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama.

Clinton's researchers responded with a posting to her Web site that said Obama's campaign had misinterpreted her remarks.

"In fact, her 1993 legislation included an individual mandate," it said.