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QUESTION
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ANSWER
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Why Do We Need Health Care Reform?
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We urgently need to fix health care in the U.S. for a number of reasons; primarily because of the vast number of uninsured in the amount of 46 million Americans. Even working adults simply cannot “afford” health care or even worse, quality health care. As health care costs continue to rise, more American families are squeezed out of affordable health care coverage. The goal of health care reform is to build on what works and fix what is broken so that health care is more affordable for patients.
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How Will I Benefit?
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Having health care coverage for any individual would provide stability and piece of mind, lower health care costs, greater choice, and higher qualities of care. Reform of our current broken, fragmented health care system will preserve what currently works in our system yet provide greater choice of providers resulting in high-quality care. The desired system will place providers and patients – not the insurance companies – in charge of making health care decisions. Indirectly, this will allow doctors to focus on the practice of medicine rather than the challenge of fighting through red-tape.
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Will My Taxes Go Up?
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The question of how health care reform will be financed remains to be at the forefront in the minds of most Americans. The Obama Administration is considering multiple ways to finance universal coverage. One way would be to include significant savings within the health care sector through increased efficiency, reduced administrative waste, elimination of fraud and abuse, expansion of proven cost-saving preventive and wellness measures, and improved accuracy of payment in current federal health programs. Increased health care costs are expected to be phased-in gradually resulting in an increase in the quality of care provided.
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Will I Lose My Current Health Insurance?
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Simply put, NO! If you like the insurance you have, you can choose to keep it – and you are guaranteed not to lose it. Again, the goal of health care reform is to fix what is broken in order to provide all Americans with affordable health care coverage.
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Will Pre-Existing Conditions Be Accepted?
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Absolutely! One of the primary reasons for health care reform is to make it easier for all Americans – regardless of their health status that may include a pre-existing condition – is to prevent insurance companies from cherry-picking policyholders. In other words, if a person has cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or any pre-existing condition, they can not be denied coverage or charged excessively higher policy premiums.
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Will Medicaid or Medicare be Eliminated?
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No! Through the reform of health care, Medicaid and Medicare will be strengthened.
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Will Medicare Benefits Be Cut?
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No, just the opposite. Medicare benefits will be improved to include the reduction of rising drug costs. To illustrate, the health care reform proposal guarantees to shrink the “donut hole” by $500 in 2011 and will be eliminated altogether in a number of years. Another purpose of health care reform will be to strengthen and improve Medicare to ensure its longevity for future generations. By ensuring Medicare’s solvency, the program can be improved as evidenced by a reduction of costs, increased efficiencies, and better quality of health care for our Seniors.
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Why Do We Need A Public Health Insurance Plan? What Is It?
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The U.S. needs a public health insurance plan in order to ensure that all Americans have affordable yet quality health care with the freedom to choose the plan that works best for the individual and their families. This plan is one that will be competitive and offer choice among health insurance providers.
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Doing Nothing Will Result In What?
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Results may include crippled family budgets, the lagging behind of American businesses, and bankruptcy of the federal government.
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