Steady Hillary Clinton and unbridled  Donald Trump headed into the final stretch of campaigning before the election with last night’s third  debate. Clinton, the cadence of years of politics and experience behind her, versus the bombast of Trump, this outsider of political outsiders on a treadmill going backward, one “nasty” word at a time.

The debate again put healthcare on a low-rung, possibly because Clinton and Trump’s differences have been so well documented, such as Trump’s disdain for Obamacare, and Clinton’s favorable view of it. We’ll get to some of the specifics in a bit.

The big news out of the debate focused on Trump refusing to promise he would concede if he lost, with the statements described as unprecedented, an insult to democracy, a hint that his followers may never give in.

But, on the other hand, if he  loses, he’s outta here, and what difference does it make? When a team loses the championship, they pack their bags, say goodbye, and the planes fly them home. Season over. There’s a lot of we could-a-should-a, brow-beating, and second-guessing over missed chances. But that’s it. If Trump loses, we’ll be saying Happy New Year at the advent of 2017, and the GOP could begin or continue a massive re-examination. Yeah, the worry is Trump will keep saying the system is rigged, yeah, yeah, yeah, without a teardrop of evidence.

America is great still, despite whiners.

The debate and healthcare

When it comes to healthcare, in the final debate, Trump and Clinton sharply disagreed about Obamacare, potential Supreme Court choices in light of Roe Vs. Wade, and the work of the Clinton Foundation.

According to the transcript prepared by Politico

Obamacare

“One thing we have to do is repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare,” said Trump. “It’s destroying our country. It’s destroying our businesses.”

“It is probably going to die of its own weight, but Obamacare has to go,” Trump said. “The premiums are going up 60%, 70%, 80%. Next year, they’re going to go up over 100%. And I’m really glad that the premiums have started, at least the people see what’s happening because she wants to keep Obamacare and she wants to make it even worse and it can’t get any worse.”

Clinton strongly disagreed. “And I’ll say something about the Affordable Care Act, which he wants to repeal,” she said. “The affordable care act extended the solvency of the medicare trust fund. If he repeals it, our Medicare problem gets worse.”

Trump told Clinton:  “Your husband disagrees with you,” obviously referring to former President Clinton’s remarks about Obamacare as ” craziest” thing.

Clinton elaborated, however:  “We’ve got to go after the long-term health care drivers. We’ve got to get costs down, increase value, emphasize wellness. I have a plan for doing that, and I think that we will be able to get entitlement spending under control but with more resources and smart decisions.”

The Supreme Court

Trump emphasized that he would, if elected, be “putting  pro-life justices on the court.”  “It will go back to the states and the states will then make a determination.” He said he’s  aiming (to nominate)  two or perhaps three justices on the court.”

Clinton emphasized her support for Roe v. Wade. “We need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women’s rights strongly support Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a “constitutional right to a woman to make the most intimate, most difficult in many cases, decisions about her health care that one can imagine,” she said.” I will defend planned parenthood.

Clinton said the government shouldn’t be “stepping in and making those personal decisions,” referring to a question about her stance related to government intervention of  late-term partial birth abortions. “So you can regulate if you are doing so with the life and the health of the mother taken into account,” she said.

“Well, I think it’s terrible,” Trump said. “If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month you can take baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby.”

Clinton Foundation

Clinton said the foundation “made it possible for 11 million people around the world with HIV-AIDS to afford treatment and that’s about half of all the people in the world that are getting treatment in partnership with the American health association.”

Said Trump: “It’s a criminal enterprise.”  He added, “So I’d like to ask you right now why don’t you give back the money that you’ve taken from certain countries that treat certain groups of people so horribly?