Now that McCain and Palin have draped themselves in Obama’s mantle of change, the crucial question has become: change to what? Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin all claim to feel the pain of hard working Americans who seem to be falling behind rather than getting ahead. All envision a bright tomorrow in which every American will be safe and prosperous. But there is a stark contrast between the Obama-Biden and the McCain-Palin vision for America. And nowhere is this contrast starker than in their competing plans for health care reform.

It’s easy for candidates to advocate a “free market” for health insurance, but my background as a cardiologist, the founder of a small but quite successful national consulting firm, a recognized expert on measuring clinical quality and cost-effectiveness, a developer of analytic tools to support coordinated, effective, efficient health care markets, and a Medicare beneficiary who once enjoyed rather good private health insurance permits me to look under the hoods and see how the engines will run, where they will take us, and what they tell us about two very different visions of America’s future.

My name is Julianne Bukey. I'm a senior at Scripps College, and I'm working for the summer at NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin.  You may have seen this video of me asking John McCain a question about insurance coverage for birth control at a McCain Town Hall meeting in Racine, Wisconsin on Thursday, July 31, 2008.

Once again, Sen. McCain demonstrated how out of touch he is when it comes to insurance coverage for basic health care. Recently, a reporter had asked him about this subject, and he didn't have any policy other than supporting no action. In a news story on CNN that followed, his campaign is quoted as saying insurance coverage of contraception should be "up to the individual." I read that to mean that he believes that if an individual wants coverage, she should be able to choose it. Wait a minute - that's what we want! But McCain has voted against legislation to ensure insurance companies cover birth control the same way they coer other prescription medications.