The law already makes it illegal for insurance companies to underwrite terrorist ransom payments.
For example, both Democratic bills would make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to customers because of a pre-existing condition.
Policies sold there duplicate many benefits provided by Medicare, and it is illegal for insurance companies, agents and brokers to sell such polices to people known to have Medicare, federal officials said Monday.
Thanks to reform, it is now illegal for insurance companies to deny children coverage because they have pre-existing medical conditions, or to rescind a policy after a person becomes sick, or to cap the amount that insurers will pay for medical care over a lifetime.
The law also made it illegal for insurance companies to charge women more for pre-existing conditions, a practice called gender rating.
"He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which for the first time has made it illegal for insurance companies to deny or overcharge women for reproductive health coverage.
Officials initially said it would reach hundreds of thousands by the time the program is phased out in 2014, when it will become illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against the sick.
Under Mr. Edwards's proposal, which resembles the plan adopted in Massachusetts in 2006, the government would require individuals to have insurance (illegal immigrants excepted).
Mr. Oxendine was the fund-raising leader in the race, with more than $3 million, but a pending ethics complaint charges that he accepted $120,000 in illegal contributions from insurance companies.
Unlike Mr. McCain, of Arizona, Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York would make it illegal for health insurance companies to deny an applicant because of health status.
