Creating a Healthier America

Living with hemophilia, I understand how critical health insurance coverage is to ensuring financial security and personal health. That is why I am deeply concerned about the growing number of uninsured Americans. Even working Americans face high health care costs and are burdened by either paying out of pocket for these expenses or facing the higher rates for individual insurance plans. I strongly believe that all Americans should have health insurance, and in order to accomplish that we must transition to a single-payer health insurance system.

However, like many large-scale policy adjustments, moving to a single payer system will be costly and difficult for some people. In order to ensure a smooth transition I propose the following steps.

Immediately, we should:

• Expand coverage to all children under 18 and individuals older than 55
• Provide a refundable tax credit, to be paid quarterly, to all individuals who purchase health insurance out of pocket
• Expand tax incentives to encourage employer coverage of part-time and contract workers
• Create catastrophic health coverage for all individuals regardless of insurance plan

Within 2 years, we should:

• Establish federally-run insurance plans in partnership with private insurance providers (through a competitive bid process)
• Provide employer incentives to take up federal plans (as opposed to private plans)
• Provide individual tax incentives to take up federal plans (as opposed to private plans)

Within 5 years, we should:

• Provide guaranteed health coverage regardless of employment status
• Create tax incentives for employer provision of supplementary health care
• Ensure portability of coverage when changing jobs

As someone living with a disease, I am aware of the importance of medical research and its potential to save and improve people’s lives. As many who live with, or have a relative living with a serious disease know, research has the potential to change lives. I strongly support federal funding of stem cell research and oppose any intervention by the government into medical research.