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Kerry's plan would also give tax credits to small businesses so they could provide their employees with health benefits. The tax credit would cover up to half of the employer's costs.
In addition, Kerry's plan will give states federal funds to cover children in Medicaid-based programs in exchange for the states expanding coverage for adults and families.
Kerry proposes to pay for the change by rolling back tax cuts advocated by Bush for those making more than $200,000.
Centre County Democratic Chairman Bob Shepherd said wiser government spending and raising taxes on the highest income bracket would create the money necessary for Kerry's plan.
"With a more refined approach to taxation than in the past four years, we'll find the money," he said.
Centre County Republican Chairman Glenn Thompson said Kerry is trying to enlarge the role of government in health care, and that would only make it much more expensive.
"When you grow the role of government, especially in health care, the dollars usually don't go to the sick or disabled, but the dollars go to feed the bureaucratic animal that was created," he said.
Bush's plan is to make reforms to the current privatized health care system and to encourage people to shop around for health insurance, driving up competition and driving down prices.
To do this, Bush's plan would allow individuals to set up tax-free savings accounts to be used on health insurance or medical care, according to his official campaign Web site, www.GeorgeWBush.com.
Bush's plan would allow smaller businesses to form Established Association Health Plans, which would let small businesses work together to give them the same negotiating ability with insurance companies as large businesses.
Thompson said because health care has not been affordable for small businesses, it discourages entrepreneurs and the growth of these businesses.
"They would be able to pull with other organizations of their size, which is something that hasn't been legal to do so far," he said.
Shepherd owned a small State College bookstore for eight years. He said allowing companies to negotiate together might help, but only minimally. He said the comprehensive approach of providing all Americans with health insurance would be a better choice.
"The Republicans are big on promising things that meet the sum criteria, but then under-funding or not administering them correctly," he said.
Bush's plan also allows consumers to purchase health insurance wherever they want, as opposed to being forced to purchase it in their home state.
Bush said that creating medical malpractice lawsuit reform would help lessen health care costs and help doctors go back to practicing medicine instead of denying high-risk patients for fear of liability.
"Doctors practice defensive medicine because of all the frivolous lawsuits that cost our government $28 billion a year," Bush said during the second presidential debate Oct. 8.
Part of Bush's plan includes putting caps on the monetary damages that can be awarded and limiting the amount of money lawyers can make for trying each case.
Thompson, who is also a health care manager in the Susquehanna Health System, said the number of medical malpractice lawsuits in Pennsylvania has put the state in a crisis situation.
"Pennsylvania has lost doctors to neighboring states," he said. "They literally pick up their practices and move."
Kerry has said lawsuits are less than 1 percent of health care costs, and there is a way to reform lawsuits within the system itself.
Vice presidential candidate John Edwards said reform can happen within the legal system by forcing cases to be reviewed by independent experts to make sure they have merit before going through the court systems.
"That way we keep the cases out of the system that don't belong in the system. They talk about frivolous cases. We believe cases that don't belong in the system should never be in the system," Edwards said during the Oct. 5 vice presidential debate.
Parker said the number of lawsuits do affect health insurance costs and need to be addressed in some way.
"It is definitely a factor, but there are a lot of other factors as well, such as the appropriate use of new technology and the cost of prescription drugs" he said.
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Where they stand on health care
Bush
 Allow small businesses to negotiate together with health insurance companies
Allow individuals to establish tax-free savings accounts to pay for health insurance or health care
Put caps on the amount of monetary damages awarded for medical malpractice lawsuits
Kerry
Give families up to $1,000 back in health care premiums
Create tax credits for individuals and businesses to help cover health insurance costs
Create a system that forces medical malpractice lawsuits to be reviewed for merit before entering the court system
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