Issue Position: Health Insurance

Issue Position

I support Comprehensive and Mandatory Heath Insurance for all Americans.

When those who don't have Health Insurance are unable to pay their health care cost, many of them go bankrupt. This is the number one reason why Americans go bankrupt. Even if they don't go bankrupt they still do not pay their health care cost and the rest of us who do have health insurance end up paying higher Health Insurance cost in order to pay the unpaid bills of the uninsured. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody has to pay when others are unable to pay their bills. This is why I support Mandatory Health Insurance for all Americans. Everybody.

My objective is to propose and support legislation that will:

Mandate that every employer must provide all of their employees over the age of 24 and under the age of 65, and each member of their families including employed spouses under 25 and children under 25 years old, with at least an 80% Non Catastrophic and 100% Catastrophic Health Insurance Policy. My plan concentrates on Employer Provided Health Insurance because employers already provide Health Insurance for most Americans and it is easier to insure people through their employers as a part of employees' overall compensation packages;
All 80% Non Catastrophic -- 100% Catastrophic Health Insurance plans will provide at least 80% coverage for all Doctor's Visits, Dental, Optical, Psychological, Hospital Stays, Surgeries, Pharmaceutical Cost and Everything Else except Cosmetic Related Cost, and Abortion Cost;
Everyone will be able to purchase upgraded policies. Employees will be able to purchase upgraded polices for themselves and Employers will be able to purchase upgraded polices for their employees.
All 80% Non Catastrophic -- 100% Catastrophic Health Insurance plans will provide for unlimited catastrophic coverage. Thus, for each family member, for each year, the individual's co-pay will be limited to 20% of the first $5,000 of medical cost [$1,000 per family member per year]. Mandatory Catastrophic coverage will prevent bankruptcies due to medical bills;
Employers must pay at least 80% of the premiums for each employee. Employers at their discretion can pay a portion of the other 20% of these premiums. The Employees will have to pay whatever the employer decides not to pay;
If the individual is self employed, the individual must pay for his or her own Health Insurance policy;
If an individual loses his or her job involuntarily, he or she will continue to be covered by the employer's Health Insurance policy for a year or until the employee obtains a new job, with at least 80% of the policy cost paid for by the employer. This will encourage employers to help their dismissed employees obtain new jobs;
If an individual quits his or her job, the employee will be responsible for obtaining an 80% Non Catastrophic -- 100% Catastrophic Health Insurance Plan.
Employees under 25 years of age, who generally will be covered under their parents' policies, will be exempt from the mandatory provisions of this plan. However, if an under 25 year old employee is not covered by a parent's Health Insurance plan, they will be picked up by the current Federal S-CHIP program;
It will be illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage due to a pre-existing condition or to charge a higher premium due to the health of any individual;
Medicare will be the insurer of last resort with policy cost capped at $3,000 per employee, and a $600 rider per each additional dependent per year. The cost of the Dependent's riders will have to be paid by the employee unless the employer volunteers to pick up the cost of the dependents. Medicare's entrance as a competitor in the Health Insurance industry for non retirees serves as a cost control container. If the private insurance companies' prices become too costly, Medicare will always be there to provide affordable prices;
All Small Businesses will be assisted with a 50% Federal Health Insurance Tax Credit for first 5 employees and a 25% Federal Health Insurance Credit for the next 40 employees. This will assist small companies, helping them remain competitive while they comply with laws that mandate that they provide Health Insurance for all their employees;
I predict that this assistance for small businesses will cost $30 billion per year. However, in order to achieve 100% Health Insurance Coverage, and the peace of mind this will give almost all Americans, this cost is worth it. In addition the cost of my plan is much less than any other 100% comprehensive plan that has been proposed
In addition to the Federal Health Insurance Tax Credits for Small Employers, Small and Medium sized employers will receive additional assistance from the Federal Government. All Corporate Control Groups with under 500 employees will have their first 100 employees Health Insurance Policy's Cost [For the Minimum 80% Non Catastrophic -- 100% Catastrophic Plan] capped at $3,000 per employee plus $600 per additional rider. Employers will lose this 20% of this assistance for each additional employee in excess of 500. No Federal Health Insurance assistance will be available for companies with more than 1,000 employees. This assistance is expected to cost $100 million per year. There are a variety of ways to pay for this plan. But the primary method that I propose is a general 15% increase in the Federal Income Tax rates paid by all individuals and corporations.

PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE OPTION [PUBLIC OPTION]

I support the enactment of a Public Option. I agree totally with President Obama and with most Democrats that a Federal Health Insurer would provide additional competition to existing Health Insurance Providers. And additional competition, as always, will results in lower cost.

However those who oppose a public option do have one legitimate concern. That concern is the federal government can threaten the existence of private insurance companies. This would not serve the public interest because even the government, when it provides services that the private sector can also provide, will be forced to provide better services at lower cost if it is forced to compete. The continued existence of private insurance companies will be beneficial because of the innovation they will continue to introduce in the Medical Financial Industry. Therefore though I support the public option, I also support placing restrictions that would limit the pricing and the market share of the Public Option Insurance Provider [POIP].

These Public Option Insurance Provider restrictions should include requiring the POIP to:

Turn a profit. It would not be far to the Private Insurance Companies if the POIP would be allowed to deficit spend; and
The POIC has to be restricted to hold 10% to 20% of each local market. The reason for the restriction is that a 10% minimum market share insures that the POIP is of sufficient size to be a viable competitor to the private insurance companies. The reason for the 20% market share ceiling is to insure that private insurance companies remain viable. [There is a chance for the POIP market share to exceed 20%. That could occur if the POIP is running a profit, is selling policies more expensively than the average price of private insurance companies and the public, and yet for some reason, the public still continues to choose POIP product over the products offered by the private insurance companies. Normally when the POIP's market share beings to exceed the 20% ceiling the POIP will increase its price to encourage the public to purchase more plans from private insurance companies. But if the POIP's policies are priced higher than 50% of all policies the POIP will not raise its prices further.]

Source