Activists and Experts Hail New Plan to Provide Health Care Coverage for All

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Economic Policy Institute released a progressive plan that would provide health care coverage to all Americans today. The plan, written by Jacob Hacker as part of EPI’s “Agenda for Shared Prosperity Project,” is designed to move a conversation with the public about “new solutions that challenge the conventional economic thinking.” The complete plan can be found at http://www.sharedprosperity.org/.

Responding to the plan, Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey announced that his organization will work hard to push a national conversation on the subject.

“We are launching a national effort to discuss and debate how to get good health care coverage for all Americans while controlling spiraling health care costs,” said Hickey. “The best way to get a real debate is to put a simple, clear and progressive health care plan on the table. The Hacker plan qualifies on all counts. It will be a benchmark by which all other plans can be judged.”

In collaboration with Medicare Rights Center founder Diane Archer, Hickey is working with a network of citizen action groups to foster public forums and internet discussion to create a groundswell of public support for health care coverage for all. Many of the groups lining up in support of a national health care plan were active in the successful grassroots movement to stop President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. Others are working to pass innovative health care coverage plans at the state level.

NOTE: Statements from progressive leaders endorsing the health plan can be found below. Media representatives interested in a copy of Jacob Hacker’s health plan can obtain a copy at http://www.sharedprosperity.org/.

KEY ELEMENTS OF JACOB HACKER’S HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA PLAN

Health Care for America. Americans want and deserve to be guaranteed affordable health care. Health Care for America builds on the most popular elements of the present structure — Medicare and employment-based health insurance — to meet America’s health care needs:

— It allows people to keep the health care coverage they have and offers Americans the choice to buy into a public plan like Medicare.

— It combines personal responsibility with choice and an employer contribution to create a new framework ensuring that everyone is covered, that risk is spread broadly, and that costs are controlled and quality improved.

   — It guarantees lifetime coverage and health security.   — It’s easy to understand.   — It’s efficient to administer.  

— It costs no more than the nation is currently spending on health care and offers substantial cost-savings to the 50 states.

What is the promise of Health Care for America?

For about $120 billion a year in additional federal spending, it promises all legal residents the lifetime guarantee of affordable and better health care, lower costs, more choice, healthier citizens. It also promises the states real savings and relieves them of the responsibility of ensuring health care for their residents. Instead, it pools the resources of all Americans so that no matter where they live or where they visit, they can access the health care they need. Employers will also see real savings. And Health Care for America does not unravel existing sources of health security or force workers to obtain coverage on their own, or require people to settle for limited coverage or health plans that keep them from seeing the doctors they know and trust.

How does Health Care for America work?

It ensures lifetime coverage to most Americans automatically either through the workplace or, if they have no workplace ties, through their doctors’ office. Rather than relying on private insurers to provide affordable coverage for the sick and those with costly medical conditions — which they have been unwilling and unable to do– it allows the private health care marketplace to continue to provide coverage as it currently does while guaranteeing all Americans an affordable coverage choice through the public sector. It levels the playing field among employers; every firm needs to make at least a modest contribution — up to six percent of payroll — to the cost of coverage for each of their workers.

What would change with Health Care for America?

Every legal resident would have health coverage. For most workers with good coverage though, Health Care for America would change little, besides eliminating the very real threat of losing coverage. But some employers would be required to upgrade their plans to make them comparable to Health Care for America. Others might find it cheaper to provide current levels of coverage by enrolling their workers in Health Care for America and providing supplemental benefits. Detailed micro-simulation estimates suggest that roughly half of non-elderly Americans would remain in workplace health insurance, with the other half enrolled in Health Care for America.

Why is Health Care for America Efficient and Cost Effective?

A single national insurance pool covering nearly half the population would create huge administrative efficiencies. Medicare’s administrative costs amount to between 2 and 3 percent of total program spending, compared with between 13 and 14 percent, on average, in the private sector. Because Medicare and Health Care for America would bargain jointly for lower prices and join forces to improve quality, they would have enormous combined leverage to hold down costs. To ensure that bargaining for lower prices did not come at the expense of high-quality care, Medicare and Health Care for America would also team up to monitor and improve the quality of care, applying the positive models already developed or under development within Medicare and in the increasingly successful Military Health System. Because Health Care for America creates a constructive public-private dynamic, it ensures that the sector best able to control costs is rewarded with additional patients over time.

Health Care for America Guarantees Coverage and Controls Health Spending. It promises substantial cost savings over time for employers, individuals, states, and the federal government. By bargaining for lower prices and encouraging cost-effective care, Health Care for America-working with Medicare-provides the best realistic hope for finally bringing American health spending under control.

STATEMENTS FROM EXPERTS AND ACTIVISTS ABOUT JACOB HACKER’S HEALTH PLAN

“When private insurers were unwilling or unable to provide affordable health care coverage to millions of older Americans, Congress enacted Medicare, which has provided a cost-effective guarantee of affordable coverage for more than 40 years. Because private insurers are unwilling or unable to provide affordable health coverage to millions of working families today, Jacob Hacker proposes Health Care for America, a public program to answer their need as well as the need of millions of others who are anxiously insured. Health Care for America provides a simple cost-effective solution to guarantee all Americans access to affordable care: The choice of lifetime coverage through a public program with a large risk pool.”

— Diane Archer, founder, Medicare Rights Center

“Health Care for America is a bold, thoughtful and achievable proposal for bringing the guarantee of affordable health care to every American. This plan is especially important because it provides solutions to the high cost of health care. I want to thank the Economic Policy Institute, Campaign for America’s Future, and, in particular, Jacob Hacker for this initiative and for their leadership. Our nation’s health care crisis is hurting businesses and families, the uninsured and the insured, patients and those who care for them. From California to Maine, states are beginning to respond to the challenge. It is time for Congress to act, and Health Care for America helps point the way.”

— Rep. Jan Shakowsky, D-Ill.

“Jacob Hacker’s proposal for a hybrid form of universal health insurance is a splendid way to press for a sensible debate over what reform of universal coverage can balance the need for health security and social affordability.”

— Ted Marmor, author of The Politics of Medicare

“Jacob Hacker’s ‘Health Care for America’ plan is an innovative, common- sense approach to reform that deserves the careful consideration of policymakers. His proposal builds on the foundation of employer-sponsored health insurance-the system by which most Americans derive their coverage-to create a new system of affordable coverage for all. The Hacker plan presents us with an important opportunity to begin a serious dialogue about how to achieve meaningful health care reform in America. To date, our failure of initiative and imagination on this issue has created a shameless legacy of economic instability and needless suffering across this country. We cannot afford to wait another day to tackle the most serious problem of our generation.”

— Gerald W. McEntee, president of AFSCME

“The Health Care for America plan is a common-sense proposal that offers promising opportunities to guarantee health care for all Americans. With many new ideas emerging on comprehensive health care reform, this proposal presents another viable option that demonstrates the kind of bold thinking and leadership we need in order to find real solutions to the health care crisis. This proposal acknowledges that employment-based health care is economically inefficient for today’s global economy. It builds upon existing programs that are effective, while guaranteeing affordable coverage for at-risk populations, flexible choices, and premiums that work to eliminate economic and social disparities.”

— Andy Stern, President of SEIU, the Service Employees International Union

Campaign for America’s Future

CONTACT: Noreen Nielsen or Toby Chaudhuri, +1-202-955-5665, both ofCampaign for America’s Future