Hillary Clinton om sin helsepolitikk

Helse er etter min mening viktig i presidentvalget i USA. Grunnen er at USA ennå ikke har ordninger som dekker alle. Estimatene varierer, men antakelig er det mellom 30 og 40% av befolkningen som ikke er omfattet av forsikringsordninger.

Her er Hillary Clintons syn på saken, sakset fra New York Times:

Hillary Clinton

Require everyone to get health insurance, subsidized by employers and the government; pay for it by rolling back tax cuts for households earning over $250,000 and savings in the existing system.

Proposal to Expand Coverage

REQUIRE EVERYONE TO OBTAIN HEALTH INSURANCE, SUBSIDIZED BY EMPLOYERS AND THE GOVERNMENT

Require large employers to provide insurance or contribute to the cost. Provide tax credits to small businesses and subsidies for low-income people. Create a pool of private plans similar to the program for federal workers and one public plan similar to Medicare. Plans are portable from job to job. Expand Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“I call my plan, the American Health Choices plan. … If you have private insurance you like, nothing changes … you can keep that insurance. … If, however, you don’t have health insurance or you don’t like the insurance you have, you can choose from the same wide variety of private plans that members of Congress choose from. … You will have access to a public plan that will provide a stable, competitive alternative to private insurance if that is your choice.”

“While I will be requiring all Americans to have health care, I will be calling on employers to do their part as well. …. Under my plan, large companies will be required to help pay for their employees’ health care. Those that do so can simply maintain their current policy that they choose. Those that don’t, will need to contribute towards the cost of covering their employees on a sliding scale based on their size and average wages. …. We won’t require small businesses to cover employees. Instead we will provide tax credits to ensure that many of them do. … The government will provide tax-credits to insure that every single American can afford health insurance.”

— In Des Moines, Sept. 17, 2007

MORE DETAILS

American Health Choices Plan (hillaryclinton.com)

Dersom denne politikken blir gjennomført, vil den etter min meniing bety et langt skritt fremover for USA.

Forskjellene mellom Hillary Clinton og Barack Obama når det gjelder helsepolitikk ble klargjort i en nylig TV-debatt. Her er en link til Politikens dekning av dette.