Reply #4: Here's the light on health care: [View All]

[LWolf]

It's just not Senator Kerry shining that light.

"I am the only candidate in this race with a detailed plan to provide universal health care. Others use that phrase, but their plans leave many Americans without coverage. Under my plan patients and doctors are put in charge of the system, not HMOs and private insurance companies. Patients are able to select their doctors. The costs are completely covered by the government. And we don't end up paying any more than what we're paying now. We're already paying for universal coverage. We're just not getting it. We're pouring a large portion of every health care dollar into the waste of the private insurance companies, their executive salaries and stock options, their lobbying and advertising. My plan would remove that waste by making the government the single payer for health care.

"My plan is called Enhanced Medicare for All -- a universal, single-payer system of national health insurance, carefully phased in over 10 years. It addresses everyone's needs, including the 45 million Americans without coverage and those paying exorbitant rates for health insurance. This approach to health care emphasizes patient choice, and puts doctors and patients in control of the system, not insurance companies. Coverage will be more complete than private insurance plans, encourage prevention and include prescription drugs, dental care, mental health care, and alternative and complementary medicine.

"This plan is based on a bill I introduced together with Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, H.R. 676. Under this plan individuals would not have to pay premiums, deductibles, or co-pays. Other candidates would leave the insurance companies in charge. The insurance and the pharmaceuticals companies right now, they own us. We need to take our health care system back.

"Health care is currently dominated by insurance firms and HMOs, institutions that are more bureaucratic and costly than Medicare. Right now, private companies are charging about 18 percent for administration, while the cost of Medicare administration is only 3 percent. People are waiting longer for appointments. Fewer people are getting a doctor of their choice. Physicians are being given monetary incentives to deny care. Pre-existing illnesses are being used to deny coverage. It's important to understand that insurance companies make more money by NOT providing health care. A single-payer system can save money by investing in preventive care, as well as by cutting out the insurance companies' profits.

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http://www.kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php