Insurance plan puts pressure on taxes
Group pushing concept of medical care for all, with state paying tab
Monday, February 28, 2005
Suzanne Hoholik
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Imagine going to the doctor’s office, a dentist or even a hospital emergency room and never seeing a bill.
In fact, Ohio would pick up the tab.
A group that wants to create a new government agency that would insure all Ohioans says this scenario doesn’t have to be a fairy tale.
The Single-Payer Action Network Ohio wants to create a $38 billion health system paid for by cutting administrative costs and adding taxes.
Under its plan, individuals who earn more than $90,000 annually and all businesses would pay into the Ohio Health Care Fund.
Backers, including some labor unions, doctors, nurses, lawmakers and religious organizations, are collecting signatures to put the issue on the November 2006 ballot.
Of course, there is opposition, including legislators, medical associations and insurers.
But with 1.3 million Ohioans uninsured and health-care costs skyrocketing, something has to be done, says Jerry Gordon of SPAN Ohio.
<snip>
Such a plan, if it worked, would end Linda Payette’s worries.
Payette has heart and lung diseases. Once her COBRA insurance runs out in 11 months, the huge premiums she will then have to pay for insurance could lead her and her husband into bankruptcy, she said.
<snip>
At 58, Payette is too young for Medicare.
"We could lose everything we’ve worked 30 years for," the Reynoldsburg resident said.
A single-payer plan "would look good to me. But, then again, we have so many taxes now, what are people going to say about paying all these taxes?"
That’s a sticking point with critics, including state Sen. Eric D. Fingerhut, D-Cleveland.
While the uninsured need a safety net, the Ohio Department of Insurance needs to be "much more aggressive in its role of overseeing the system," said Fingerhut, a member of the Senate Health Committee.
"I’m not for taking over the system," he said. "The government doesn’t have to run the system in order to be an aggressive force, to use the leverage we have to drive down the costs and make health insurance more accessible and more affordable."
While most agree that the health-care system needs an overhaul and the topic should be debated, the Ohio State Medical Association says the single-payer idea would be a step backward.
<snip>
But single-payer supporters are quick to distance themselves from socialized medicine, Hillary Clinton’s health-care proposal from the 1990s or Canada’s health-care system.
"We have 45 million people in this country that are uninsured," Gordon said. "They don’t have lines to wait in, but that’s because they don’t go to the doctor."
For more information on the proposed single - payer plan , visit www . spanohio . org
Full article:
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/02/28/20050228-C1-02.html&rfr=nwsl&chck=t (subscription required, unfortunately)
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Here is something every Ohio resident of this board could and should get behind! If Ken Blackwell and the Rethuglicans can play the initiative game, so can we! This sort of bill would be a lifesaver for me even IF my taxes went up!
-- ArchTeryx
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