Edward Kennedy plan to outline U.S. healthcare overhaul
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic plans for revamping U.S. healthcare are taking shape, with Senator Edward Kennedy soon to announce a proposal which could form the core of the nation's new health system.
Kennedy, a Democratic stalwart whose thinking is widely believed to track that of President Barack Obama on healthcare, is expected to unveil a plan in early June that will include both a new government program to provide medical coverage for all as well as a mandate that every American acquire some form of health insurance.
The two elements -- government insurance and mandatory coverage -- have been hotly debated as Obama seeks to begin radically transforming the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry by the end of the year.
Kennedy, who has made medical coverage for the uninsured a goal of his four-decade career, outlined elements of the bill in a column published this week in the Boston Globe.