Major Reform Proposals and Candidate Positions
"The US is once again deep in a debate over the future of its health insurance system—a debate that has waxed and waned for the better part of a century. This is ironic because the US doesn’t actually have what one could call a health insurance “system.” Rather, it has a hodgepodge of programmes—public and private—that cover most, but far from all, of its residents. And as the cost of medical services continues to grow faster than most Americans’ incomes, even people with private insurance coverage—which comes with ever increasing expenses in the form of deductibles and co-payments—are finding the cost of care becoming more than they can afford. That’s true for the government funded health insurance programme for the elderly and disabled as well.
Fundamentally, this century long debate is focused on whether healthcare in the US should be directed more by the government or more by market forces and private competition. For decades, Democrats have pushed for more government, while Republicans have maintained that a free market would work more efficiently. Currently, just over half of US healthcare is funded by federal, state, and local governments, with the rest coming from the private sector. That means nobody is truly steering the ship. And no one is very happy about that."
British Medical Journal, “The complicated, political, expensive, seemingly eternal US healthcare debate explained”, Oct 10, 2019
Candidate Positions:
Ballotpedia:
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/policy-2020/medicare-for-all/
Kaiser Family Foundation: https://www.kff.org/slideshow/health-care-and-the-2020-presidential-election/
Article from Journal of the American Medical Association: Trump vs Biden on Health Care, Larry Levitt, MPP
Party Platforms:
- Republican Party Platform
2016
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Democratic Party Platform
2020
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The Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations: Health care: Expanding government-run plans, without ‘Medicare for all’
The task force’s recommendations stop far short of Mr. Sanders’s signature health care policy initiative, a single-payer “Medicare for all” system that would enroll all Americans in a generous government-run health plan.
Instead, the task force supports a government-run insurance option that would be offered to all Americans on a sliding scale according to income — and automatically provided to low-income Americans free.
A so-called public option has always been a part of Mr. Biden’s health plan, but the recommendations specify new details, such as a requirement that certain prescription medicines be offered without any out-of-pocket spending by patients. Similar to Mr. Biden’s most recent health proposal, this one would allow Americans to become eligible for Medicare coverage at 60 instead of the current threshold, 65. The document also suggests considering how Medicare could expand its benefits to cover treatment for dental care, vision and hearing loss.The task force also recommends special insurance options for people during the coronavirus pandemic. For those who lost coverage because they became unemployed, the task force suggests that the federal government pay the full cost of continuing that coverage under the federal law known as COBRA. People without previous coverage would be allowed to buy a new plan with no deductible, at a price determined by their income, or an existing Obamacare plan.
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- Green Party Platform
- Libertarian Party Platform
Voter Positions:
Kaiser Family Foundation - May, 2020: Public-Opinion-on-Single-Payer-National-Health-Plans-and-Expanding-Access-to-Medicare-Coverage.pptx
Great site for all kinds of healthcare information, not just polling.
Figure below from Kaiser Family Foundation - 2019: Polling
CONTACT: health@marinlwv.org