This paper argues that a desirable health reform plan should accept some features that the Obama and McCain plans have in common, and combine other features from each of the plans. Useful combinations include the presence of both public and private options and a system of credits that are more generous for lower-income households (Obama) and creation of a system of public subsidies that is ince...

As savvy researchers, we Googled our topic: “Obama and Medicare.” Our first hit was zazzle.com, which advertised a bumper sticker with an older woman in a wheelchair hurtling down a slope with the caption “Obama Lies, Grandma Dies.”1 The bumper sticker captures the politics of health care reform and Medicare. In the summer of 2009, congressional town hall events became shouting matches over hea...