Credit cards, loans or health care have put the typical American in debt and students are particularly at risk. According to an article appearing in the New York Times in June, two out of three students must now borrow money for college. Of those, 40 percent will face “unmanageable debt” upon graduation, according to the article. That’s 26 percent of us, college students, who will be in “unmanageable debt” by the time we graduate.

Not only that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions 2007 census, 43.6 million Americans are uninsured, the largest portion being students.

Students without health insurance walk a thin line between debt and bankruptcy, and willingly. Those that are unfortunate enough to have the need to visit a doctor are signing away their lives to their banks. According to a recent Harvard study, every 30 seconds someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.

Health care has always been a hot topic of debate for politicians, but this year it is really heating up. Hillary Clinton unveiled her plan this week, which would require all Americans to have health insurance. The plan would be enacted through tax credits that would limit their payments to a certain percentage of household income. Republicans and Democrats alike have lambasted her plan.

Democratic Senator John Edwards, Clinton’s rival, was quoted by cnn.com mocking her plan as a copy of his own, “...if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I’m flattered,” said Edwards.

Republicans didn’t waste a second doing their research to tear down every Democrat’s health care plan. Democrats didn’t waste a second researching their opponents plans in an effort to tear them down and seek out a lead in the primaries.

City officials in San Francisco have been toying with health care themselves. Unfortunately they still haven’t gotten it right. Health coverage for those that are uninsured is limited. If something were to happen to an uninsured San Franciscan outside the city limits, the plan would not cover them.

So how then, can anyone attend college and afford health insurance? They can’t. Unless you are still covered on a family plan, it is nearly impossible to afford decent health insurance working part time. As college students, we are skirting through college with the naïve idea that it couldn’t happen to us.

So with the looming threat for 26 percent of college students plunging into “unmanageable debt” upon graduation, it is disgusting to hear politicians discuss their plans as if there is no humanitarian consequence behind it; they are clearly missing the mark. This shouldn’t be about campaigns.

Clinton’s plan is good, it addresses the need for universal healthcare in this country, but has a few holes. It doesn’t address the quality of care patients would receive, or how easy it would be to obtain it. Her plan is flawed, as are most of the plans presented by this year’s gaggle of presidential hopefuls. All could be good, useful plans with a few educated revisions from the people they are trying to serve. (That is, after all, how a democracy is supposed to work.)

So, to both the Republicans and Democrats running in 2008, remember that some of us are paying attention. The winner of this race will not be the one who can prove they are the least like Bush, it will be the one who can provide results that are clearly in the common interest. This election is a different animal-we are watching your every move on our iPhones, on YouTube, and on Google. This election is about results, and we are watching and waiting.