For all the hoopla concerning healthcare, I though I would bring together two experts on both sides of the healthcare debate and let them go at it.  Who are these people?  Why Senator Barak Obama and President Barak Obama! It promises to be a lively debate, so lets get to it!

President Barak Obama:  Everyone in America must buy insurance, even if you can't afford it... and you pay a penalty if you don't.

Senator Barak Obama: Punishing families who can't afford health care to begin with just doesn't make sense.

President Barak Obama: Insurance companies can raise their rates immediately since they will have to insure people with pre-existing conditions

Senator Barak Obama: We should cap insurance company profits in places where they have taken advantage of people

President Barak Obama: We're actually going to cause premiums to rise near-term...  some even increase costs by $2500 per year.

Senator Barak Obama: We need to save the typical family up to $2,500 per year.

Below is the full text of then Senator Obama's campaign mailer.  Borrowed from Factcheck.org .  If you think Obama follows his principles think again.  One of his major campaign actions was to campaign SPECIFICALLY against a bill he just signed into law.

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Obama for 
America Mailer

Hillary's health care plan forces everyone to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it. Is that the best we can do for families struggling with high health care costs?

Hillary's health care plan forces everyone to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it... and you pay a penalty if you don't.

The way Hillary Clinton's health care plan covers everyone is to have the government force uninsured people to buy insurance, even if they can't afford it.

"...forcing those who cannot afford health insurance to buy it through mandates...punishing those who don't fall in line with fines."
- The Daily Iowan, December 21, 2007

Punishing families who can't afford health care to begin with just doesn't make sense.

Barack Obama believes that it's not that people don't want health care, it's that they can't afford it.

Barack Obama believes Americans who don't have health care coverage desperately want it; they just can't afford to pay for it. That's why the Obama plan covers every American by reducing costs more than Hillary Clinton's, saving the typical family up to $2,500 per year.

Bill Clinton's own Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, wrote, "I've compared the two plans in detail...But in my view Obama's would insure more people, not fewer, than HRC's." - Robert Reich, December 3, 2007

The Obama Health Care Plan:

• Offers health care coverage for all Americans similar to that of members of Congress, and subsidies to help those who cannot afford it.
• Reduces insurance costs more than Hillary's plan, including capping insurance company profits in places where they have taken advantage of people.
• Saves the typical family up to $2,500 per year.