Clinton unveils healthcare plan

DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton unveiled her healthcare reform package Monday that would require all Americans be insured.

"It puts the consumer in the driver’s seat by offering more choices and lowering costs," Clinton, D-N.Y., said on her Web site. She unveiled her proposal at a Des Moines hospital.

Clinton said her plan would include tax credits to help defray premium costs and could be transported if an insured person either changes or loses a job.

"If you have a plan you like, you keep it," she said on her Web site. "If you want to change plans or aren’t currently covered, you can choose from dozens of the same plans available to members of Congress, or you can opt into a public plan option like Medicare."

Her package also would bar insurers from denying coverage for a pre-existing condition or from charging more for their premiums people with greater healthcare costs.

Insurers, she said, "will have to offer and renew coverage to anyone who applies and pays their premium."

The plan would offer tax credits to small businesses that provide healthcare to employees to help defray their coverage costs, she said.