Ezra Klein has a terrific piece in the LA Times today, detailing how presidential candidates from both parties are approaching the national healthcare debate. The Dem candidates' plans are similar, Ezra explains, as are the Republicans' approaches, leaving the public with a clear choice of direction.

The Republican plans make you pay more for your healthcare so you'll buy less. They do this by weakening the protection that insurance offers from health expenses. The Democratic plans bring everyone into the system, then use that leverage to reform the insurers and extract savings through efficiencies of scale.

Thompson, who doesn't have a plan, says that "the best way to improve the best healthcare in the world, which is what we've got right here in the United States, is to expand choice."

And that indeed is where the plans differ: the type of choice they offer. The Republican plans make it easier to choose to forgo health coverage or to buy less of it. The Democratic plans make it easier to buy comprehensive health insurance. And the voters will have to choose between the two.