Cooper Allen

USA TODAY

Perhaps no issue illustrates the philosophical differences Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have to governing more than health care, the issue that led off Thursday's debate in Milwaukee.

Sanders argues for a large-scale overhaul, while Clinton favors a more pragmatic approach.

In detailing their approaches Thursday, Sanders emphasized his view that "health care is a right of all people."

"And I will fight for that," he said. He said he wouldn't dismantle Obamacare, as Clinton has contended he would, but that if government leaders had the courage to take on prescription drug and insurance companies in order to achieve the goal of universal health care, it was possible.

Clinton countered that she shares the goal of universal health care but said that Sanders' plan amounted to starting over on the issue.

"We are not England," she said. "We are not France," arguing that the U.S. health care system has historically been an employer-based system and that the focus should be on improving the existing Affordable Care Act.