The New England Journal of Medicine is one of our country’s most prestigious medical publications, and in the August 21st, 2008, issue, the NEJM published Jonathan Oberlander’s article, The Partisan Divide — The McCain and Obama Plans for U.S. Health Care Reform, which is available in print in the library or by following the link to the NEJM’s Web site. This article is a useful review of the differences between these two candidates and to the underlying philosophical differences between our two major political parties.From my reading of the article, the McCain plan emphasizes the need to support market forces and use them to impact our health care system, while the Obama plan starts with the understanding of shared responsibility to cover individuals. But, don’t take my word for it. Read the article for yourself.