What
is Just Health Care?
Just
Health Care is the Labor Party's proposal for national health insurance:
a public insurance fund and a private health care system with free choice
of doctors, hospitals and clinics.
Instead of over 1,000 insurance companies creating mountains of paperwork
and wasting our premium dollars, one insurance plan will cover everyone.
Think of it as a health insurance policy that provides guaranteed, lifetime
health care coverage, whether you have a job or not.
How Does National Health Insurance Work?
Patients. For
patients, national health insurance is simple. All U.S. residents will have
a health insurance card which guarantees access to quality health care whenever
and wherever we need it. Simply walk into a doctor's office, hospital or
clinic of your choice, present your card and receive the care you need.
No money changes hands. Premiums, deductibles and co-payments
are eliminated. You never receive a doctor, hospital or insurance company
bill. You never wait to be reimbursed while haggling with insurance companies
over what is and isn't covered.
Administration. The plan is simple to administer too. National health insurance eliminates the need for private insurance by creating one public insurance fund. The government collects revenues and state or regional boards reimburse doctors and hospitals for providing care.
National health insurance will keep costs in check by putting everyone in the same insurance pool, eliminating wasteful administrative costs and avoiding duplication of services, equipment and facilities.
Key Features of Just Health Care
Whether it is the skyrocketing
costs of traditional fee-for-service plans or the poor quality of managed
care due to cutbacks in staffing, closing of hospital emergency rooms and
denial or delay of needed care, our health is compromised under a profit-driven
health care system.
As much as 30 cents of every premium dollar is squandered on enormous CEO
salaries, shareholder profits, advertising and administration. The Labor
Party calls for taking the profit out of health care.
Many of us with health insurance
pay out-of pocket for services such as dental care and prescription drugs
and most of us lack sufficient coverage for a catastrophic or long-term
illness. Nearly half of the 1 million Americans who file for bankruptcy
- the majority with insurance - do so largely because of medical bills.
Just Health Care covers all appropriate care, including:
- doctor visits
- nursing home and
long-term care
- hospitalization
- preventive & rehabilitative
services
- access to specialists
- prescription drugs
- mental health
treatment
- dental & vision
services
- occupational health
services
- medical supplies
& equipment
The number of Americans
without health insurance continues to increase each year. Of the 44.3 million
uninsured, nearly half aged 18-64 work full time. Just Health Care will
extend coverage to every U.S. resident whether working full or part time,
retired, laid off, in school or between jobs. By taking health care off
the bargaining table, quality health care becomes a right, not a benefit.
As health care costs
escalate, workers are forced to shoulder more of the cost. American families
spent an average of $1,841 on health care in 1997 - premiums, co-payments,
hospital bills and prescription drugs - a $700 increase from 1987. And the
percentage of workers required to pay all or part of their premiums rose
from only 46% in 1980 to 78% in 1995.
Only taxpayers with incomes over $183,000 will pay more income tax. By eliminating
premiums, co-payments, deductibles and most out-of-pocket costs, 95%
of taxpayers will save money under Just Health Care.
A Just Transition will guarantee
displaced workers full income, benefits and tuition as they make the transition
to alternative work.
The Labor
Party and Just Health Care
If you - like 79% of Americans
- believe health care should be a right, join the Labor Party's Committee
of a Million to demonstrate broad public support for national health insurance.
We need your help to make Just Health Care possible.
Add
your name to the Committee of a Million today!
|
