John Kerry's Health Care Plan

[The Democratic Kid]

This is a link to John Kerry's health care plan. It moves health care in the right direction. We the poor sick old and uninsured cannot afford 4 more years of Bush. The pres. doesn't Even address these issues. Vote For John Kerry at least his willing to try to fix the problem. http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/healthcare/index.html Thank You. The Democratic Kid...

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. He shouldn't have a problem getting the insurance cos to sign off on this

Or the medical care industry, either. Even the drug companies can't complain! Some may quibble a little bit about Canada, but that can be taken care of by working out some new purchase terms for Canada!

The tax credit for unemployed people is something unemployed people with a lot of cash on hand can really appreciate, too.

There are even tax credits for elderly people - they simply use their cash on hand to pay, and get some back at the end of the year!

Best of all, no one can call Kerry's plan "socialized medicine."

It rests squarely on the proud American tradition of freedom to purchase all the health care you can afford!

[papau]

2. OK - I agree - Kerry's Health plan needs major help!

I really enjoyed your points:

The tax credit for unemployed people is something unemployed people with a lot of cash on hand can really appreciate, too.

There are even tax credits for elderly people - they simply use their cash on hand to pay, and get some back at the end of the year!

(Plan).. rests squarely on the proud American tradition of freedom to purchase all the health care you can afford!

LOL

:-)

[progressivebydesign]

9. Tax credits... that is SO Bush!

I hate this plan. Why am I being saddled with the corporate answer to a Democratic candidate.

Let the unemployed and the elderly use the cash they have for insurance and get it back at the end of the year? Is he serious???? We don't HAVE cash to purchase health care.. we don't have cash to buy any food.. lot of good it'll do for a tax credit. It's useless.

I'm sorry.. can anyone tell me why Howard Dean, the man with the real plan and the experience of making it work, was slam dunked by the DLC and the DNC? Oh yeah.. I forgot.. pharmaceutical and insurance companies are FAT donors to the Democratic corporate machinery. Silly me.

Kerry's plan doesn't mean jack to poor people. What a waste of paper.

[sybylla]

3. I'm not seeing it

All there is at that site is a whole lot of promises and no substance. Health care is a huge concern for me. I've listened carefully to what the candidates have said about it. I've tried to find something substantive on Kerry's plan but have had no luck.

Yea, it would be great if we could get the same health care as our reps get but how is it going to be paid for? Primo insurance like that begins at $15000 a year and up. If I could afford that, I'd have it now. All I've heard him say is he is going to give us access to it. And I've also heard him claim in one of the debates that he intends to punish employers who don't provide insurance to their employees.

All I can figure out about his plan is that it will enrich insurance companies and punish small businesses who can't afford to provide health insurance.

Please show me the light instead of mere ephemera. I'd love to be convinced.

[LWolf]

4. Here's the light on health care:

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.

<snip>

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

[sybylla]

7. I love DK's plan

I think it's the best option. But I'm willing to look at other options too. I've tried to examine Kerry's plan but so far I don't see a discernable, concrete, on-paper plan.

[mopinko]

5. same here

where does that $4000 figure come from? not from someone paying their own premiums. i am facing a divorce, and like a lot of other women i know, am stuck partly by fear of being uninsured. what does this do for our society? how many children are trapped in violence by the same fear. how many would be entrepreneurs are trapped in jobs, when they could be out there starting new businesses and creating jobs? how many small businesses are not growing because of the costs of providing insurance for employees? or can't find the right employees, because they can't offer insurance?
i don't see any evidence that kerry is doing anything but chanting the mantra.

[Snivi Yllom]

6. the billion dollar question

How do you pay for this? 'Credits' need money to fund them. Think the Republicans are going to vote to fund this? To do so will require a raise in the income tax. And certainly the Bush tax cuts will have to be allowed to sunset.

It sounds good, but the specifics need to be addressed. And considerations need to be made considering GOP control of the House and Senate. If Kerry was in the WH, what he could he really pass?

[progressivebydesign]

10. Our family of three faces a $700+ per month premium for basic care..

WITH copays and deductibles. A credit at the end of the year is meaningless.. absolutely meaningless. I see now why Kerry is being pushed so hard by the establishment... he's all corporate.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Complicated, and doesn't really address the problem

Covering children to 300% of poverty is good, so is covering married adults to 200% of poverty, but why should single adults need to be below poverty, which is SO low that you pretty much have to be living in a cardboard box to qualify? A single adult who is over 55 but too young for Medicare is the most screwed-over person in the whole system, since individual coverage runs about $300-500 a month at a minimum, even with a high-deductible policy.

Why do the uninsured have to be a separate GROUP within the Feds' program? Why is all this bullshit about GROUPS allowed to stand when all the money goes into the same pot anyway? Aren't GROUPS, especially when they're defined in terms of employers rather than in terms of medical characteristics, just a devious excuse to charge small businesses and individuals more?

The insurance companies will love this, since it will give them an excuse to generate more paperwork, generating "costs," which will have to be passed on so that the executives continue to get their multimillion dollar bonuses.

I'll vote for Kerry if he's nominated, but it WON'T be because of his health "planl." Only Kucinich has an actual plan for revolutionizing health care in this country.

[progressivebydesign]

11. Hey, don't forget Dean.

Dean is a man with a plan. A good one. AND.. experience in implementing it. Hell, I wish I lived in Vermont!

[Nicholas_J]

12. Difference is

There is some question about when Dean will ask congress for a universal heath care plan. In several statements it seems that Dean is indicating that he will not begin to aske for national health until the budget is balanced, and in others he says he will not balance the budget for 7 year. Putting that togetther, we end up with a situation in which a Dean admonsoitation might not evcen start to address health care until near the end of a two term presidency.

Kerry has stated that universal health care will be the first legislation he sends to congress. Dean, at best, has not indicated what priority her gives it.