Over 45 million Americans – including over 8 million children - lack health insurance, while some of the people having insurance struggle to cope with soaring medical coasts. This is the picture of the US before the presidential election in November. Given the circumstances, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are playing their last card, namely health care, hoping their plans would bring them people’s support and win the election.

Until now, the balance appears to favor Obama’s plan that wants to create a government-operated insurance program, which would require larger employers to provide coverage for their workers in an attempt to reduce the number of people without health insurance. In addition to this, people won’t lose their insurance coverage when they switch jobs because their insurance would be portable.

On the other hand, McCain’s health care plan would put an end to tax breaks for health insurances provided by employers and come up with a refundable tax credit of $2,500/person or $5,000/family. Referring to this particular matter, Obama said a $5,000 tax credit sounds pretty good. “What McCain doesn’t tell you is, the average cost of a family health care plan these days is more than twice that much: $12,680. So where would that leave you? Broke,” he said during a speech last Saturday while campaigning in the battleground state of Virginia.

McCain also wants to let people shop across state lines when buying insurance; that would bypass states where insurance is more expensive and comprehensive.

Obama’s plan would cover 34 million of the nation’s projected 67 million uninsured people in 10 years, compared with just 2 million covered under Republican John McCain’s Plan, according to a report released at the end of September by the Commonwealth Fund.

Obama also plans to modernize the current system of employer- and government-provided health care and to make some investments that will lead to a more efficient medical system. He plans to invest more in preventive services, like regular screenings and healthy lifestyle information.

Those who are uninsured tend to believe Obama’s plan would be more likely to provide them with coverage. In fact, according to a survey conducted September 17-21, 2001, by telephone among a national cross section of 935 registered voters in the United States found that more voters (33 percent) think Senator Barack Obama’s plan would be better for them than Senator John McCain’s plan (27 percent).

Insurance for kids is also another point in Obama’s plan that might bring him Americans’ votes, as it would mandate insurance for kids, while McCain’s would not.

When it comes to costs, McCain’s plan was projected to coast more than $2 trillion from 2010 through 2019, while Obama’s would cost $1.7 trillion, according to the analysis released this week. What is not known yet is how the candidates would cover the total.

On the other hand, health economists are ideologically divided over McCain’s plan. Supporters of the plan project it might provide coverage to 25 million people, while critics predict that the number of newly insured would peak at five million and then decline.