Edwards offers a preview of his health plan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070204/pl_nm/usa_politics_edwards_dc

Offering a preview of his plan, Edwards said it aims to bring healthcare coverage to 47 million uninsured Americans, lower costs for the middle class and foster competition.

It would expand Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance plan for the needy, and offer subsidies for the uninsured. He said, "We ask employers to play a bigger role, which means they either have to have coverage or they have to buy into what we're calling health markets."

Without providing details, Edwards said his plan would create "health markets" nationwide. One choice available in the markets would be "the government plan, so people who like the idea of a single-payer health insurance plan, that is actually one of the alternatives," he said.

Edwards declared his candidacy in December calling for fewer U.S. troops in Iraq, a restoration of U.S. world leadership and an end to poverty.

Forcing MORE participation of employers only gives them MORE life & death power over their employees..

If entrepreneurship is the backbone of the nation, employers must get OUT of the health care providing business..ENTIRELY.

health care must be portable, and belong to the INDIVIDUAL...no matter where he/she works.

and of course ( :sarcasm: ) the money NOW being spent by the employers for their share, MUST be given as WAGES to the employees (It's always used as an excuse for no pay increase, so it would be freed up to increase the wages..right?right?

Thanks.

what he is proposing is giving people the option of "buying" into medicare. And giving the poor subsidies to buy the medicare insurance.

Everything else stays the same. It sounds a lot like Arnold's plan.

health insurers) then the cost will continue to be prohibitively high.

We already spend about double per capita what Canada does. For that much money we should already have a universal single payer fee for service system that's twice as good as Canada's, and not have to spend anymore than we already do.

is the only way to go.

It will be very difficult to move everyone to a single-payer system at once, as much as we would like to see it happen.

So...you open up the "government plan" to everyone -- no pre-existing conditions, affordable coverage, limited or no co-pays or deductibles. AT THE SAME TIME, you force the insurance companies to accept everyone AT THE SAME RATE WITH NO PRE-EXISTING CONDITION EXCLUSIONS.

This would force the insurance companies to compete with the government plan.

But they can't because of the overhead -- the single-payer government system would be cheaper.

So the insurance companies eventually go out of business.

A slow process that could work and might be easier to get through than a wholesale switch to single-payer.

We'll have to see if this is what he is suggesting.

The most ill, the least-insurable, who are denied health care now, would rush to the gov't "single-payer" plan, sinking it with their very expensive needs. The healthy people would be available for cherry-picking by the for-profit insurers, who would suddenly see their profits shoot through the roof as they unload their "undesirables" onto the Gov't plan.

The insurance companies can't cherry-pick. They have to insure everyone AT THE SAME RATE -- no pre-existing conditions. People choose between the private and the public plan. The private plans HAVE to compete with the government plan.

<edit to add> The insurance companies can cherry-pick now and charge different rates for different individuals. But in the scheme I described, they would not be able to.

as you said, the private companies would inevitably die out bc they wouldn't be able to compete.

Granted, it would take a while. I'd like to see EVERYONE TOMORROW on single-payer, but that will be one heck of a fight.

And we can say,"OK insurance companies -- here is your chance -- you have to compete."
And, of course, they won't be able to in the long run.

and how they are thinking through this problem.

Of course, Congress will have the final word but at least Edward is not afraid to put out a plan. I imagine he is open to input on changing it, but at least something is out there.

The Repugs will tear his plan apart, no doubt, and offer no solutions whatsoever of their own.

I hope the other Dem candidates will come forward with something too.

He's been a co-sponsor of HR 676 -- Medicare for All -- for some time. The bill had 78 co-sponsors.

I'll go look for it. I bet it must be on his website.

If he really cares about the poor, and helping provide health care, he would support this bill which has already been introduced in the House of Representatives. With his help, and pressure from US, we could get this passed BEFORE the presidential race.

IF the Democratic Party would just UNITE on something, anything! we might be able to get something done.

really needs to be done.

Bending to the corporate health industry I see.