Barack Backs Universal Health Care

White House applicant Barack Obama has unveiled a health care plan which will offer all Americans coverage comparable to what federal employees get. The Obama Plan would cost upwards of $65 billion a year, which the Senator plans to fund by cancelling Bush tax cuts and increasing efficiency, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Obama's plan, according to Time, features elements of the proposal rival Hillary Clinton floated as First Lady in 1994—including the touchy provision that employers be compelled to offer insurance or pay a fine. "We can do this," Obama told the University of Iowa yesterday. "The climate is far different than the last time we tried this in the early 90s." (More Barack Obama stories.)