Principles for Universal Health
Insurance for the United States
- True universality. Everybody in, nobody out, with one risk pool. No
more “cherry-picking,” or exclusion of high-risk people from coverage.
- Tax-based financing, like Medicare, in accordance with income,
instead of premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. Not free care, since
everyone pays into the system through taxes.
- Full choice of providers in a delivery system that remains a
mixture of private and public. Not socialized medicine, but national
health insurance in the same way that Medicare is a national insurance
program.
- Elimination of the odd link between employers and health insurance coverage.
- Coverage for all necessary services, including inpatient and
outpatient care,emergency care, long-term care, mental health,
treatment for substances, prescriptions, and basic dental and eye care
with no discrimination by type of illness or ability to pay.
- True integration of public health and preventive services with adequate funding, both on a personal and community basis.
- Continued funding for special services necessary to serve special
population groups: e.g., immigrants, migrant farm workers and the
disabled.
- The practice of medicine based on scientific principles.
- A national trust fund dedicated specifically to health care.
- National planning that allows a large degree of local autonomy. A
national health board with regional or state-by-state equivalents.
- Public accountability. Eliminates the “opaque” (hard to fathom) financing practices of the current system.
- Global budgeting, which entails setting priorities, but is flexible
enough to support medical education, research and excellence in
medicine.
- Simplified administration with greatly reduced administrative
costs, leaving 90-95percent of health care funds for patient care,
prevention and research.
- Reasonable and equitable reimbursement for health care providers.
- Insurance companies would be allowed to sell policies only for uncovered services.
- Treatment of health as a “public good” instead of as a market commodity.
Bob LeBow, MD, MPH. (2002). Health care meltdown: Confronting the myths
and fixing our failing system. Boise, ID:JRI Press, pp.9-10.
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