|
Digital News Report – Many Democrats tout health reform as a cause for the people, but not Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. The former Presidential Candidate says the proposals are a gift to the health insurance industry.
“Forty-seven million Americans are without health insurance,” Kucinich said in a statement. “And what’s Washington’s solution? Require people to buy private insurance with the government providing a subsidy to the health insurance companies.”
Kucinich is not alone in his fight against compulsory health insurance. Activist and film producer Michael Moore has problems with the proposals.
“We may be slow learners, but the rest of the industrial world has figured it out: Universal, single-payer or national health care systems,” Moore said back in September while laying out what the current proposals are missing.
Kucinich also wants a “singer payer system” and not the proposed “universal health care system”. “I am going to continue to fight for single-payer,” Kucinich said yesterday in a letter.
Both Moore and Kucinich call the insurance companies part of the problem.
In December 2008 the insurance industry proposed a universal health care system similar to what is in Congress right now.
Karen Ignagni, President and CEO America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), recommended mandatory coverage and government subsidies for those who can not afford it. AHIP is the main lobbying group for the industry.
Referencing the 2008 insurance industry study, Ignagni told the Senate Finance Committee back in May that the government should pay for coverage for millions of Americans. “Additional responsibilities lie with the federal government, which needs to maintain a strong health care safety net for persons who are financially vulnerable and provide assistance to make coverage affordable for working families,” Ignagni said.
The industry would also like to see mandatory / compulsory coverage. “According to the Milliman report, states that implemented these guarantee issue and rating restriction laws without adopting a policy that requires all individuals to participate in the system,” Ignagni said.
Kucinich says the dream of the health insurance industry is coming true. In a Raw Story interview Kucinich said: “We’re redistributing the wealth of the nation upwards by giving the insurance companies 30 million new customers, $50 billion a year more in revenue.”
By: Greg Cook
|
