Beginning in July 2007, the Connector offers reduced benefit plans for young adults up to age 26 who do not have access to employer-based coverage.

And in the case of health care, there's also the fact that the traditional system of employer-based coverage is gradually disintegrating.

Clinton explained individuals can keep their current employer-based coverage, or choose an expanded version of Medicare or federal employee health plans.

But it would help millions of workers who lose their employer-based coverage and are then turned away by other insurers.

And he wouldn't eliminate tax deductions for employer-based coverage if the company refused to join a purchasing cooperative.

It builds on what works today in the private sector to expand employer-based coverage, to guarantee private insurance for every American.

Both are efforts to build on the existing system, with a mix of employer-based coverage and expanded public programs.

And it could result in employer-based coverage being scaled back.

President Bush would also continue to rely on - and even expand - employer-based coverage.

"The failure of the economic boom to expand employer-based coverage for working families significantly is ominous," the center said in a recent study.