Health care crisis: Does Pennsylvania have the answer?

As the political campaigns gear up for Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, the candidates are trumpeting positions on one of the state's - and the country's - thorniest and most pressing issues: health care reform. With health care costs in the Keystone State 11 percent higher than the national average and rising twice as fast as the average wage, it's a problem Pennsylvania is desperately trying to fix on its own. The state legislature is debating a plan backed by Governor Ed Rendell to provide benefits to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, but there's disagreement over who's going to foot the bill.

NOW ON PBS gets insight on the problem and its proposed solution from a wide range of Pennsylvanians, including small business owners, legislators, a suburban family and a packaged dessert company headquartered in Philadelphia that employs more than 800 people. But the problem is bigger than Pennsylvania. With 47 million Americans uninsured and so many feeling the pinch of soaring coverage costs, can this Philadelphia experiment make a difference in the national crisis? 

On NOW's Web site at www.pbs.org/now , get the latest health care proposals and promises from the three leading presidential candidates and a state-by-state review of health insurance rights and protections.