HEALTH CARE COVERAGE FOR ALL
Our Delaware Citizens' Information and Action Forum's single payer nongovernment run Delaware Health Security Act is undoubtedly one of the most important, proven program and cost effective legislative acts ever presented our elected state level decision-makers. It is the ultimate LITMUS TEST for every candidate seeking elective office in both executive and legislative branches of OUR state government. Any incumbent or challenging candidate for any state level office that doesn't bother to accept our offer to help her/him become credibly informed and does not sign off on supporting this legislative act SHOULD NOT RECEIVE ANY VOTES except those from citizens who have also not become informed about what this act will do for them and their family members. After candidates have ignored or completed our Association's Candidate Survey Form, we will disseminate to citizens which candidates have competently learned our best knowledge information on all civic/political issue areas we cover on our web site (deinformedvoters.org) and have signed off on supporting our recommended reform changes at our state government level. Our nonprofit Forum is dedicated to identifying, enlisting and supporting informed, committed, credible state level candidates (regardless of political party affiliation) who will vigorously fight for the program and cost effective benefits listed on this Health Care page. If our candidates for state level offices don't support our LITMUS TEST health care reform act, we should put prioity on enlisting candidates who understand and commit to its enactment. We urge you to share this Health Care page with those on your email address list and download and share it where indicated. We ask that you inform your family members, friends and other Delaware citizens about our web site (deinformedvoters.org) and all civic/political issue areas we cover, especially our single payer Delaware Health Security Act explained on this page.
Information on this page has been developed for Delaware citizens who invest the time to study valid, research-proven program and cost effective facts in order to have credible civic responsibility competency on this important civic/political issue. At the outset of this information, we want to explain some of the Halloween-type misinformation and pathological lies special interest status quo protector propagandists will bring forth to blanket our state. This Act is NOT government run socialized medicine or health care. Citizens will always choose their physicians and other health care providers. This Act will totally free physicians and other health care providers from having the unnecessary private health insurance industry come between you and your health care providers. Ask a simple, profound question. What does the controlling health insurance industry brokers contribute to a physician's office, hospital, laboratory, long-term care facility or any part of our health care system? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Not even a Band-Aid. Yet they waste appoximately 40$ of ouf state's health care funds (at least $8 million each day in 2009), and cause physicians and others to waste costly, valuable time helping interpret hundreds of insurance companies tons of restrictive paperwork. Then it's insanity plus that these physicians, dentists, nurses, therapists, psychologists, social workers and other health care professionals have to waste time in humiliating calls to get treatment permissions from these insurance company bottom-line profit protectors. Our Act will eliminate this wasteful insanity. Our Act isn't even socialized health care insurance as is our Medicare program. Only 70% will come from current tax contributions. The other 30% will be provided by citizens and both large and small private businesses. All will pay less under this comprehensive coverage Act than they now have to pay.This reform program will operate like our single payer Medicare program but with adequate funds to pay all providers. Medicare has an administrative/overhead cost of 1.5% compared to over 30% administrative/overhead waste by the controlling health insurance company brokers. Medicare is a socialized health insurance program just as Social Security is a socialized economic security program. Go into a Senior Citizen Center and tell them you're going to try and privatize these two programs and you'd better be parked near the Exit with your motor running.
There is some very rewarding update information to report. In early June, 2009 our Delaware Health Security Act has been given Senate Bill Number 120, has been assigned to the Senate FinanceCommittee for clearance and a vote by all 62 State Legislators. Members of the Senate Finamce Committee are as follows: Senators Nancy Cook (Chair); Harris McDowell, III (Act co-sponsor); Bruce Ennis (Act co-sponsor); David McBride; Dorinda Conner; and Catherine Cloutier. Readers of this information are urged to contact the four Committee members who haven't yet co-sponsored this needed Act and your State Representative and Senator expressing support for Senate Bill 120. As it's introduced in our State Legislature, it already has 17 House/Senate co-sponsors. Contact flydmcdwll@comcast.net or via phone at (302) 832-2799 and a list of email addresses and office phone numbers will be sent for all 62 State Legislators. Our Forum urges citizens to first become competently informed about this valuable Act and then have family members and friends express support for the Act to their State Legislators and Governor. In 2007, our Forum's Delaware Health Security Coalition had 20 statewide supportive organizations, now has 31 and we expect 40 by the next election cycle in 2010. Poll after poll, at both state and national levels, show an average of 70% of citizens polled want single payer health care system reform. The state legislatures in California, Maine and Vermont have passed their excellent state single payer reform acts and a number of others are nearing passage of their single payer reform acts. The three states mentioned are now working to elect Governors in 2010 who will not veto their legislature passed Acts. Every one of the other 29 developed, industrialized nations in the world provide comprehensive health care coverage to all of their citizens via a single payer or modified single payer health care system. They do this at approximately one-half the funds our nation spends for health care.
Our single payer Delaware Health Security Act is structured and will operate like our very successful single payer Medicare/Medicaid Act and program. A major difference is that savings by our Delaware single payer Act will provide more than enough funds to properly compensate health care providers for their services. Our Act will cause the provision of a single form for all health care providers to use as they both provide and bill for services rendered Delaware citizens and eligible Delaware workers who live out of our state. Hospitals in our state will receive a yearly block grant allotment of funds under a capitation arrangement. Each year the Act's Health Security Authority will negotiate with organizations representing all health care providers to establish prices for every health care service and expense. Then one form is submitted for payment as done in the single payer Medicare/Medicaid program. The administrative/overhead cost in the single payer Medicare/Medicaid program is 1.5% (facts available from the National Medicare Center) compared to a Harvard University Research Team national study (and there are others) that shows 33% of our health care funds are wasted by administrative/overhead costs of health insurance company brokers. Keep in mind that approximately 90 percent of our Delaware health care funds are provided by hard-working citizens through 70 percent supplied by taxes and 20 percent from out-of-pocket expenses. .And especially relevant is that citizens' tax funds provides and offers every State Legislator and her/his family members a comprehensive health care coverage benefit package.
Our single payer Delaware Health Security Act will be administered by a Delaware Health Security Authority. The Authority will be placed within the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services but will operate as an independent body and program. The State Authority's 15-member ruling board will be selected and appointed from the following sources: five from elected state officials via two from the House Committee concerned with health care, two from the Senate Committee concerned with health care and the Secretary of Health and Social Services representing the Governor's office; five representatives from different Delaware organizations representing health care professionals; and five members from Delaware consumer organizations (or State affiliates of National organizations) that have endorsed single payer health care reform at least five years before the enactment of this single payer Act. A list of these endorsing state/national consumer organizations is given on this Health Care page. The Delaware Health Security Authority will hire an Executive Director who will work with and through the Authority and the following interactive Divisions: Administration; Planning; Benefits; and Quality Assurance. The responsibilities of the Authority, Executive director and the four Divisions are explained in the body of the Act. Our Act includes the creation of County Advisory Councils in each of our three counties. County Advisory Council membership will be from the same sources and in the same numbers as membership on the ruling State Authority. These County Advisory Councils will be grass roots operations interacting with individuals and organizations in each county and involved in all aspects of county/state planning, implementation and evaluation of health care as required by the Delaware Health Security Act. There will be a close reciprocal working relationship between these County Advisory Councils and the Act's State Authority, Executive Director and four Divisions at the state level. State and national single payer leaders who critiqued our Act before its final composition highly praised the provision of these grass roots involved County Advisory Councils
Other important, documented research findings emphasize the urgency that we unify and change the low level of our state's political culture in our nation and among the civilized world. First, keep in mind that all of the other 29 developed, industrialized nations in the world provide comprehensive health care coverage for all of their citizens via a single payer or modified single payer health care system. Comparative studies have been done over the years on how
This Health Care page will now give a list (not covering smaller organizations) of state and national organizations that have studied, endorsed and support single payer health care reform similar to our Delaware Health Security Act
The savings realized by our state elected decision-makers passing our single payer act will provide a long list of benefits to every citizen and her/his family members, save over $200 million annually in state funds, and contribute to a more robust Delaware economic/job development future and to the strengthening and expanding our state's health care system. Instead of double digit annual health care cost increases in our future, additional savings will result from increases related only to the annual smaller percentage of inflation.
Internalize these important Delaware health care coverage facts and share with all family members and friends. The list of benefits to be given below will be provided without the need for a penny out of one's pockets to pay for ANY other health insurance, co-payments or deductibles. Only a Delaware Health Security card will be needed by every current and future
The all-important question every elected government official and every civically responsible voting citizen should ask is, What does a Health Insurance Company (includes AARP) Contribute to any Provider of Health Care Services? The answer is absolutely nothing, not even a Band-Aid. Our Act eliminates these totally unnecessary brokers who siphon off at least 40 percent of hard-working citizens' health care funds via over 30 percent from administrative/overhead waste and a minimum of 10 percent through unchecked fraud. The other 29 developed countries do not allow this theft and control. They provide universal, comprehensive health care coverage to all of their citizens with a single payer or modified saingle payer system. A proven cost effective system is our single payer Medicare program. It's total administrative/overhead cost is 1.5 percent, information available to any citizen from the national Medicare headquarters.
. This Act is NOT socialized medicine or health care. Physicians and other health care professionals will NOT be working as salaried government employees under government rules and regulations as in our excellent Military and Veterans Administration's program and cost effective single payer health care systems. A multi-year national research study evaluated our nation's best ranked private health care clinics and hospitals as compared with our single payer Veterans Administrations health care clinics and hospitals. The VA's programs were rated superior on every health care indicator. Even the business publications of Business Week and Forbes magazine reported these results and praised the VA health care system.
. Approximately 90 percent of Delaware's health care funds are contributed by hard-working Delaware citizens via approximately 70 percent from taxes and 20 percent from out-of-pocket expenses and this Act will ensure that their funds are used to cover them and their families. How can an elected state official not support this Act when citizens' tax funds provides and offers each of them and her/his family members a comprehensive health care coverage benefit package.
. Poll after poll at both state and national levels show that approximately 70 percent of citizens polled want single payer reform. Sensible, cost-effective single payer reform will never happen in Washington, thanks to tens of thousands of well-funded lobbyists on K Street. It's in the states where voting citizens can be truthfully informed and enlisted to support desperately needed program and cost effective single payer systems. The State Legislatures in California (twice), Maine and Vermont have enacted their Coalitions' excellent single payer Acts and they're working now to elect Governors in 2010 who won't veto these Acts. Many other states are making solid progress towards getting their State Legislators to enact single payer Acts similar to our Delaware Health Security Act.
. The World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva conducted a worldwide study on important health care indicators and rated nations. Our nation was ranked 37th and behind the other 29 developed countries and even eight undeveloped nations. I have the greatest respect for the WHO. Once I was our nation's sole representative at an important week long international conference in Geneva which developed a world status report on mental disabilities. They're a class organization.
. Forty-seven percent of all of our nation's health care funds are now spent on single payer systems in our states and nation. These are primarily our Medicare/Medicaid program, our military services and Veteran's Administration health care system.
The following is not a complete list of the many research-proven program and cost effective benefits this Act will provide all Delaware citizens and our state:
. All Delaware citizens and their families will receive comprehensive, universal health care coverage from conception until death without a cent needed for extra health care insurance, co-payments or deductibles. This also applies to Delaware workers and their families if the worker lives in another state and works at least 20 hours a week in Delaware.
. This health care coverage will include all services by physicians (including specialists), dental care, hospital needs, laboratory services, all types of long-term care, mental/emotional health services, all pharmaceutical drugs, professional services of psychologists, social workers, nurses and all therapist disciplines, drug treatment for all drug addictions (including nicotine), comprehensive services for all disabled citizens, health care needs such as ambulance needs, services to victims and their families coping with needs such as Alzheimer's disease or HIV/AIDS, all special health care equipment and aids such as wheel chairs, special beds, breathing aids, eye glasses and hearing aids, and equal quality health care services to those in institutions such as juvenile and adult correctional facilities and special health needs hospitals and facilities.
. Act will free physicians and other health care professionals from wasting valuable time helping interpret the small print restrictions on coverage contained in a continuous flood of insurance company policies. Also, it will free them from the degrading stree of having to get permission for medical treatments from profit-protecting broker health insurance staff.
. The Act will eliminate all health care debt now approaching 70 percent of the cause of all personal bankruptcies. This is a big reason citizens lose their homes or can't buy homes. Eighty percent of those filing for bankruptcy because of health care debt had some kind of health care insurance coverage.
. Will eliminate the Medicare/Medicaid pauper requirement that one must give up all savings and property to be eligible to receive long-term care assistance.
. Will eliminate the harmful stress on uninsured/underinsured. Chronic stess and anxiety causes some illnesses and lowers the immune system for fighting off others.
. Under this single payer system, Act will enable everyone's health care records to be immediately sent electronically to any part of the world if an illness or injury requires these records. Now only 20 percent of these records are electronically transmitted.
. Will enable many citizens to receive more healthful and less costly preventive and interventive health care services instead of filling up more costly hospital emergency rooms.
. Personal out-of-pocket citizen health care savings will enable hundreds of millions annually to be spent in our state's economy.
. Act will eliminate the large annual increases in health care costs as only the lower rate of inflation will apply.
. Act's Health Security Fund will self-insure liability coverage for physicians and other health care professionals at a fraction of current cost for this insurance. This should reduce the extra unnecessary costly tests and procedures physicians say they perform or require to protect them from malpractice lawsuits.
. Our state now and in the near future needs more primary care physicians and physicians trained to work with our ever-increasing older citizens. This Act will provide funds to offer incentives to both attract, retain and properly remunerate physicians with these needed skills and experience.
. Act will provide ample funds to provide incentives for physicians and other health care professionals to obtain pre-service and continuing education.
. Act will provide funds to establish accessible health care clinics throughout our state staffed by primary care physicians, dentists and other needed health care staff.
. Of all other 29 industrialized, developed nations, ours is the only one not providing health care coverage for all its citizens and they do this at one-half the cost of our ineffective system controlled by totally unnecessary health insurance company brokers.
. This Act will save our state's budget over $200 million each year in lowered costs for health care coverage to state employees/retirees and other state-funded health care programs.
. Act will serve as a magnet for both attracting and retaining private businesses competing in the global economy. For example, it would keep automobile manufacturing industries in our state. In Canada, across the Detroit River, they can build an automobile for $1,600 less per vehicle and in Germany, almost $3,000 less per vehicle because of their universal health care systems. With our health care costs increasing annually as they've done and will continue to do, we will lose more important private businesses if we don't pass this Act and become competitive again.
. Act will save both private and public employers 40 percent in Workmen's Compensation insurance coverage costs. This is one of the fastest rising cost burdens for all employers.
. In collective bargaining between private and public emplyers and their employees/retirees, the health care benefits issue will be eliminated under this Act.
. Act will lower insurance costs for all vehicles used by employers and citizens by eliminating the personal liability coverage component. Same for business and home property personal liability insurance costs.
. Our state's smaller businesses will have less employee turnover caused by many employees leaving for jobs that provide health care coverage.
. All payments to health care providers will be made within 10-14 days whereas now some providers wait months to receive payment for services rendered.
. Act will eliminate all collective bargaining over health care coverage between private/public employers and employee/retiree organizations.
. Under the Act, our state's private businesses will pay only approximately 10 percent into our state's total health care funds. Seven percent will be by large businesses and they will pay less under this Act than they now pay for their employees and retirees.
. Our state's small businesses will pay only 3 percent of our total health care funds under a graduated scale which allows them to pay approximately one-half of what large businesses pay. Now these small business employees/retirees go to emergency rooms and that high cost is shifted to taxpayers and increased premium costs for insured.
. This reformed system will fully utilize the 7-step fraud control strategy explained in Dr. Malcolm Sparrow's publication titled License to Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America's Health Care System. Dr. Sparrow, Professor in the School of Government at Harvard University, is our nation's recognized authority on health care fraud.
. There is only ONE downside to the Act and it's temporary. Many paperwork employees will be out of work. However, there'll be a 5 percent increase in health care utilization primarily by all citizens receiving preventive and interventive care instead of filling up hospital emergency rooms. The Act will have and earmark funds to train and give economic stipends to those replaced workers who want to fill the positions needed for extra nurses, nurse's aides, dental technicians, etc and stay in the field of health care.
.
. Important information to know is how our Act will be funded. The first important understanding is that by eliminating the totally unnecessary insurance company brokers, we will save at least 30% of our total funds by eliminating these brokers' administrative/overhead costs. Another minimum of 10% will be saved by fully implementing the proven 7-step plan to eliminate health care fraud explained by our nation's recognized authority on health care fraud, Dr. Malcolm Sparrow, in his publication "License to Steal." These savings will reduce the amounts needed to fund our act from various taxes (70%), private businesses (10%) and citizens' pockets (20%) by approximately 40%. Our Act will establish a Health Security Authority Fund into which health care funds from all sources will be continuously deposited. These sources include the following:
. All monies the state currently appropriates to pay for health care services or health insurance premiums for state, counties, cities, towns and other government subdivisions;
. All monies the state receives from the federal government to pay for health care services or health insurance premiums. Waivers will be obtained as our Delaware Health Security Act and Authority can easily prove our Act will not only cover all benefits and services these federal programs and funds cover but will add more comprehensive health care coverage;
Private individual and employer health insurance payments and out-of-pocket health care expenses will first be reduced by saving the aforementioned 40% no longer lost to insurance company brokers and will be replaced as follows:
. All self-employed (single employer) businesses are exempt from this payroll tax;
. 4 percent for employers with from 2 to 9 employees;
. 5 percent for employers with 10 to 24 employees;
. 7 percent for employers with 25 to 49 employees; and
. 9 percent for employers with 50 or more employees.
. This payroll tax may be shared by employers and employees.
. Every cent an employer spends for employees' health care coverage, plus the employer's administrative cost of providing coverage, is tax deductible.
. Our Act's savings will enable those businesses now providing employee coverage to pay less for comprehensive employee coverage under our Act in the future.
All head of households and persons subject to Delaware's income tax shall pay a Health Security income tax of 2.5% of net income (after all deductions) taxable income;
Persons filing a Delaware income tax return shall pay an additional income surtax of 2.5% on net taxable income in excess of $250,000. Married couples filing a Delaware joint income tax return shall pay an additional income surtax of 2.5% on net taxable income in excess of $500,000;
At a number of meetings discussing our Act, those in attendance were asked to list and total their annual personal/family out of pocket expenses for all health care costs and compare that total annual cost with the total of 2.5% of their annual net state income tax. Everyone asked reported their tax under our Act was less.
Our Act will save and provide much-needed funds to strengthen and expand health care facilities and services throughout Delaware. Funds saved will help provide health care clinics, other facilities and staffing to provide quick, easy access to health care services in every part of our state. Funds will be available to help train more qualified professional health care staff our current and future health care system needs. But one of the most important contribution this Act will make to our health care system and state is to respectfully return control and decision-making responsibility to physicians and other health care professionals while eliminating the totally unnecessary controlling health insurance company brokers. This writer has heard many horror stories from physicians and other health care professionals. Our current condition is causing many physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to leave the field of health care and is discouraging others from wanting to pursue careers in health care. We need a Hall of Shame in Dover for the names of all state elected decision-makers who fail to understand the information our Forum offers them and refuse to join our current state legislators who now co-sponor our litmus test reform Act.
Our current Delaware special health care interest driven nonsystem is one of the biggest cash cow rip-offs in our state's history and it will increase probably by double digits annually in our future. The key dishonest, deceptive propaganda weapon these special interest propagandist's, their lobbyists, aligned politicians and other "go-along-to-get" parasites use is to try and portray single payer reform as "socialized medicine and health care" or "government run health care." They wear asbestos pants. They want citizens to believe our single payer system will allow some government bureaucrat to decide how their childrens' tonsils will be removed. Our Act does not include any government regulation that interferes with health care decisions by any health care provider. Our current status quo broker insurance company controlled nonsystem now requires physicians and other health care professionals to get permissions from their bottom line profit protectors even on some life or death health care decisions. Talk about insanity plus! Our single payer Delaware Health Security Act will return ALL decision making to physicians and other health care professionals and every covered citizen will have complete freedom to choose every single health care provider and service. Another repeated ploy that needs a pants fire extinguisher is that our current rip-off, inhuman system is "the market place at work." This writer has taught Doctoral level courses in 6 of our nation's universities. Go into any Freshman class course in Economics 101 and seriously ask them to believe this scenario: A broker company takes approximately 40% of the total funds of the enterprise, doesn't contribute anything back to the enterprise, controls the jobs, careers and some decisions of the enterprise's staff, and causes double didgit cost increases annually in the enterprise. Tell these young students that's an example of free enterprise and I'll gurantee laughter for at le A final bit of information should help every informed citizen have added motivation to join our unified Forum's efforts to have our 68 elected decision-makers in our state's executive and legislative branches of government understand and support our single payer Act. First read the Oath of Office each swears to that is given on our web site's (deinformedvoters.org) Oath of Office page. Then seriously ponder this final information we provide which directly relates to the future of every citizen and her/his family members. Using findings from the comprehensive Delaware research study on single payer program and cost effectiveness accomplished by the prestigious Solutions for Progress research organization and from other research sources, approximately 90% of our Delaware health care funds are provided by hard-working Delaware citizens. This includes approximately 70% from taxes and approximately 20% from citizen out-of-pocket expenses. Still using and extrapolating the Solution for Progress' findings, in 2009 we lost over $8 MILLION EACH DAY of our Delaware health care funds because of special interests controlling our health care system. First, become informed and then join our Forum and urge family members and friends to not only join but express support for our recommended program and cost effective Delaware Health Security Act to your Governor and State Legislators. We're working for you and your loved ones; for a stronger Delaware economic/job future; and for strenthening and expanding our state's health care staff, facilities, programs and services.
Don't let any perpetuator of costly status quo dishonestly mislead us by saying the national Medicare Act and ERISA Act of 1974 are barriers to state single payer Acts. Under our national constitution's Tenth Amendment, the states have tremendous power if they choose to use it. Remember, three states have already had their single payer Acts passed in their State Legislatures. And anyone who puts on a Halloween costume or mask and says our state's single payer Act will bring "Guvmint" between you and health care providers is either uninformed (kind word for ignorant), a pathological liar or both.
. Our nation's most informative resource on the single payer health care system is the Physicians for a National Health Program. To become competently informed and continuously updated on single payer systems in our states and nation, access their web site at pnhp.org. Be sure to type in the Search window " What would a single payer system cost?" and either scroll down or download summaries of 6 national and 13 state single payer research studies documenting the program and cost effectiveness of single payer reform. The eighth study summary from the top is about the
The Issue Area Facilitator for this issue area is Dr. Floyd E. McDowell, Sr., 11 Dover Court, Bear, DE 19701. His phone number is (302) 832-2799 and email address is flydmcdwll@comcast.net. As with all other Issue Area Facilitators, he is available for all inquiries, input, comments, etc. and will welcome invitations to visit meetings of organizations as a presenter/discussant on our single payer reform act.