Presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on May 10 announced a proposal for a government-run, single-payer health system that would cover all Americans by 2013 and altogether eliminate the role of private health insurers, the Washington Post reports. Speaking to a group of painters union representatives in Ankeny, Iowa, Kucinich said, "It's long past time we should take the word 'profit' out of health care." Under the "Medicare for All" proposal, all children would be covered within three years, all seniors would be covered by 2008 and every U.S. resident would be covered within a decade. The Post reports that the proposal would cost an estimated $2.2 trillion per year when fully implemented. Kucinich said the proposal would be funded with a 7.7% tax on public and private employers that would produce $917 billion per year. Kucinich also would repeal $245 billion in tax deductions employers take for providing health insurance for their employees. Further, the proposal calls for using some of the $1 trillion in federal, state and local money that currently funds health care. Kucinich said the proposal would reduce government expenditures by purchasing prescription drugs in bulk. The proposal represents Kucinich's "efforts to inject more progressive policies into his party's presidential race," but it "has little chance of becoming law," the Post reports (Eilperin, Washington Post, 5/11).
Dean To Discuss His Plans Today; Kerry on Thursday
In
related news, presidential candidate and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) is expected to
unveil details of a health reform proposal on May 13, AP/New
York Times (AP/New York Times, 5/11). Dean said
his plan would cost $88 billion, part of which would be financed by
repealing some of President Bush's tax cuts. Under the plan, $67 billion
would go toward expanding the maximum eligibility age for the SCHIP
program from 18 to 25 and by allowing the parents of eligible children to
enroll, the Des
Moines Register reports. Dean also would spend $11 billion on a
program that would allow the uninsured to purchase health coverage similar
to the way federal employees can select health plans under the Federal Employee Health
Benefits Program. In addition, he has proposed spending about $9
billion to help subsidize small businesses' health costs and would spend
remaining funds to help subsidize insurance for unemployed people
(Beaumont, Des Moines Register, 5/12). Dean also has proposed
giving tax incentives to businesses that offer their employees health
coverage and would penalize businesses that drop employee coverage. Dean's
campaign manager Joe Trippi said Dean's plan is more generous and less
expensive than the proposal offered by Democratic presidential candidate
Rep. Richard Gephardt
(D-Mo.) (AP/New York Times, 5/12). Gephardt has proposed
roughly doubling the federal subsidy to businesses to pay for insurance
premiums to 60% and require employers to provide coverage; expanding
Medicare to allow individuals ages 55 to 64 to pay to enroll in the
program; providing federal subsidies to help the unemployed purchase
health coverage through COBRA; expanding the SCHIP program to cover
parents of eligible children; and providing $172 billion to state and
local governments over the next three years to reimburse them for the cost
of health insurance for their employees. Gephardt said that the proposal
would provide health insurance to 97% of the estimated 41 million U.S.
residents who lack coverage. According to the Gephardt campaign, the
program would cost $214 billion in 2005 and $247 billion by 2007. To fund
the plan, Gephardt would repeal tax cuts enacted by President Bush (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report, 5/9). Democratic presidential
candidate Sen. John
Kerry (D-Mass.) is expected to discuss his health care proposal May 15
in Des Moines, Iowa (Des Moines Register, 5/12).