Presidential Candidates’ plans to reform US healthcare system

My Plan for a Healthy America by Barack Obama

“As I’ve traveled the country over the past year and a half, I’ve heard countless stories from Americans struggling to make ends meet while coping with a borken health care system.  In the past eight years, the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured have continued to climb, health care expenditures have continued to soard and Americans are growing more and more concerned with the quality, safety and efficiency of national health care delivery.  It’s time for a new direction.

I believe that all Americans should have health insurance, that they deserve a choice in health care and that we must do something to contain rising health care costs.  Americans shouldn’t be forced to choose between a bag of groceries or a refill of next month’s prescriptions and buying clothes for their children or an insurance plan for their family.  That’s not who we are.  Every American desreves the same affordable, high-quality health care plan that my family and the family of each member of Congress has.   Every American deserves a health future.

One of the core elements of my health care policy platform is establishing a new public insurance plan that provides a comprehensive health care plan that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.  The plan will be available to all Americans, including the self-employed and those who work for small businesses.  Every American will be guaranteed coverage, regardless of whether they have pre-existing medical conditions.  We will streamline plan enrollment and paperwork to make the plan easy to access, and make its administration more efficient and less costly.  Finally, those enrolled in the plan will be able to switch jobs without changing or jeopardizing their health coverage.

The new public plan is a critical step towards ensuring Americans the choice of a healthy future, but we need to do more.  Private insurance companies play an important role in health care coverage in this country, but the private insurance market is currently inefficient and inequitable.  I will establish a National Health Exchange that will take the following steps to create a more efficient and equitable insurance market:

• Provide the public better information on differences between plan costs and benefits to help inform their health care choices
• Promote better health care delivery by requiring plans to have the same coverage, quality and efficiency standards as the new federal plan
• Establish rules to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible and require plans to charge fair rates not contingent on health status
• These measures will enable Americans to make more meaningful choices about the their health care

For Americans to continue to have those choices, we need to address the soaring costs of care.  I have proposed that the federal government reimburse a portion of catastrophic illness costs incurred by employers as long as they agree to pass the savings on by reducing workers’ premium costs.  In addition, I have proposed a Small Business Health Tax Credit – a refundable tax credit of up to 50% on the health insurance premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees.  Finally, I will protect businesses and workers from the increasing monopoly power of the health insurance industry by requiring insurance companies to pay a reasonable proportion of premiums towards patient care as opposed to keeping them for profits or administrative costs.

To address the spiraling costs of the system overall, I believe we need to take several critical steps:

• Invest in an overhaul of our health information and technology system to improve health care quality and coordination, and reduce the high costs of administration, duplication of tests and medical errors.
• Repeal President Bush’s ban on the federal government’s ability to negotiate with drug companies on price and allowing Americans to purchase drugs from other developed countries, as long as the drugs’ safety as been ensured.
• Support better chronic disease management.
• Change payment incentives for providers to reward quality and effectiveness rather than volume.
• Promote preventive care and healthier lifestyles for all Americans.

These measures will not just help keep costs in check-they will help us modernize our health care system and ensure a healthy future for our families.

This November, we have an opportunity to choose a new direction.  We can either extend the Bush policies that we know don’t work-at this moment, in this election-we can solve this problem once and for all, and bring about a healthier future for American families.”

 

John McCain’s Vision:  Quality and Affordable Healthcare Care of All Americans (submitted by the John McCain 2008 Campaign)

John McCain believes that every American should have access to quality and affordable coverage of their choice, including keeping their current coverage.  American families-not government bureaucrats-should choose the coverage that best meets their unique needs.  He offers a series of policy reforms to achieve that goal, including initiatives to make care and coverage more affordable, enhance quality, increase access to care and allow health insurance to be portable.

His policies are build on a belief that the problems in our health care system are footed in the fundamental problems of cost and access. “Rising costs hurt those who have insurance by making it more expensive to keep.  They hurt those who don’t have insurance by making it even harder to obtain.  Rising health care costs hurt employers and the self-employed alike,” he says.  “And, in the end, they threaten serious and lasting harm to the entire American economy.”

Senator McCain does not believe that the solution is to exert even more government control over our health sector, arguing that this will only add to the “inefficiency, irrationality and uncontrolled costs” of today’s system and will put more power in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats.  Instead, he says we need a new vision that will build on the innovation and strengths of our economy and put choice and control over health care and health coverage decions in the the hands of doctors and patients.

John McCain builds his health reform proposal on four pillars:  affordability, portability, access and choice, and quality.

Greater Affordability:  Rising costs represent the single greatest threat to our health care system.  They make it difficiult for families and businesses to afford private coverage.  They put increasing pressure on taxpayers who are paying the bill for public programs.  And they put health insurance out of reach for tens of millions of Americans.

John McCain would build on the existing employer-based system by creating a new and fairer tax subsidy that gives everyone equal help in purchasing coverage.  He proposes a tax credit of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to obtain coverage fo their choice.  The credit would be refundable, meaning that people would get the full amount even if their tax bill is less than that.

People who have job-based insurance today would see little to no change and will continue to keep their current coverage.  In fact, millions of American families with employer-sponsored coverage will be better off under the generous credit being offered by the McCain plan since they will have additional money to invest in to a portable Health Savings Account.  Employers will continue to deduct health care costs as they do now and hence, will have the incentive to provide coverage as a benefit in a competitive workforce market.  However, for the first time, the credit would provide help to people shut out of the job-based insurance system.  They could choose an insurer or other health care arrangemet, and the credit would be sent straight to the plan they pick to help pay their premiums.

Increased Portability:  The tax break would ba available whether people get their health insurance at work, as the great majority of people would continue to do, or if they purchase coverage on their own or through new groups.  That means that health insurance could be portable from job to job or job to home so people would have the security of coverage that they can own and keep with them over time.  and it would lead to better coordinated care.  People wouldn’t ahve to hcange form one doctor or one network to another when their employer changes companies or when they change jobs, leading to better continuity of coverage and care.

Improved Access and More Choice:  Today, many people face high health insurance costs or denial of coverage.  Senator McCain believes that no American, simply because of a pre-existing condition like cancer, should be denied coverage to quality and affordable care.  As president, he will work to provide new funding and guidance for the states to create Guaranteed Access Plans (GAPs) that will allow people who are currently denied coverage to buy policies af affordable prices.  This would not be another unfunded mandate to the states for a new federal entitlement program but rather a partnerhsip among the federal government, states, insurers, patients and medical community.  There would be reasonable limits on premiums and additional assistance would be available to help people with lower incomes.

McCain also wants to make premiums more affodable for tens of millions of others, and he belives that the key lies in greater competition.  As a result, he would allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines.  Opening the health insurance market to nationwide competition, with proper safeguards, would give people many more choices of policies, increase competition and lower premiums.

Better Quality:  Improving quality is an important focus of the McCain health plan.  This means providing new incentives for the medical profession to provide better care at lower costs.  The biggest public programs, Medicare and Medicaid, can lead the way by paying for better quality and coordinated care, not just for doing procedures and tests.  Transparency is crucial so Americans can be empowered with better information about their choices.

He also believes it is essential to bring the health sector into the Information Age and supports providing incentives for doctors to provide better coordinated care through secure health records that protect patient privacy.  But we must also make sure that doctors have access to their patients’ medical histories so they can provide the best care.

John McCain recognizes and praises the heroic work of medical professionals and researchers in their progress fighting cancer and other killer diseases, and he is a strong advocate of policies that would eliminate barriers to care.

A Clear Choice:  The choice is clear this election year.  Unlike his opponent, John McCain does not believe that reforming our health care system should consist of burdensome employer mandates that push American families away from private coverage and creating a new government-run health care plan that will translate into higher taxes, lower wages and long waiting lines.  The key to real reform is to provide American families with more choices to quality and affordable care.