Health care plans: Obama vs. McCain

— -- Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee John McCain have dramatically divergent visions of how to reshape the health insurance system.

For example, Obama wants to require parents to provide health insurance for their children, while McCain does not. Both proposals are complex, and both candidates have offered broad outlines of what they would do — without some key specifics.

Here are some of the ways the Obama and McCain plans would affect workers at large and small companies, as well as those individuals who don't get insurance through a job.

ON THE WEB: Dozens of experts have analyzed the proposed health care plans of the presidential candidates. Click on the links below to see a sample of the analyses available on the Web.

The Urban Institute | The Kaiser Family Foundation | The Lewin Group | The Commonwealth Fund | Health Affairs health policy journal (Obama plan critique) | Health Affairs health policy journal (McCain plan critique) | The Galen Institute