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Health Care

I understand your strong concerns. The experiences of northern Michigan families and employers parallel an alarming national trend. Each year fewer and fewer employers offer health insurance to their employees. In fact, in 2005, the number fell to just 60%. At the same time, health care costs to employees are rising. According to a recent study, health insurance premiums have increased by 73 percent since 2000. It is no coincidence that health insurance premiums have dramatically increased since President Clinton left office. Clearly these skyrocketing costs are unsustainable for families and employers. It has also become a global competitiveness issue for manufacturers and other businesses.

The effect of fewer employers offering affordable insurance is that the number of uninsured has increased by 1 million each of the last four years, reaching 45 million in 2005. Today, approximately 80 percent of those uninsured have a full or part time job. More disturbing is the number of children who are uninsured. It is unacceptable that 8.3 million children in this country lack health insurance, especially in light of the efforts such as the Federal Children’s Health Insurace Program (CHIP), called MIChild (My Child) in Michigan, that provides health coverage to children. All Michigan children who lack private health insurance should be provided health care through Medicaid or MIChild.

I support many proposals to lower health care costs. I support removing the insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption status. The insurance industry is the last major industry not subject to anti-trust laws. The industry can set rates, resulting in higher premiums than what true competition would achieve. I also support allowing small businesses to write off 100% of the cost of providing health care to workers, just like larger employers are allowed to do! Finally, I support making it easier for small businesses to “pool” together to negotiate lower health insurance costs. Lower health care costs will help employers and employees alike, while keeping jobs in the U.S.

Unfortunately, none of these sensible proposals has garnered the attention of the Majority (Republican) party in Congress. The Majority party has instead focused on efforts that weaken state insurance protection laws and provide tax incentives for plans that are too expensive for most working families to afford. These ideas, if enacted, would make insurance more expensive for everyone.

The Majority party is also determined to devastate the Medicaid health insurance program many Americans depend on today. Congress passed, and the President signed into law in February 2006, legislation that will cut Medicaid health care by $10 billion. Medicaid is a safety net that pays for 70% of the nursing home care in Michigan and provides health care to children and poor pregnant women. I voted against those cuts because they would have devastating effects on our state. Michigan’s Medicaid rolls have grown 30% in the last four years. The reality is that the majority of the people enrolled in Medicaid would be uninsured if Michigan had not stepped up to the plate.

Instead of cutting Medicaid, we should look seriously at expanding Medicaid, MIChild, and Medicare to cover more uninsured. Expanding Medicaid to cover parents of eligible children could cover approximately 7.5 million working Americans. Also, by allowing retirees starting at age 55 to buy into Medicare, we can cover 3.5 million uninsured retirees.

Reducing the number of uninsured will also lower health care costs for those with private health insurance. Over 40% of all uninsured health care costs end up being paid for by employers and employees who have health insurance, according to a recent study. This adds up to an extra $342 per year in higher health insurance premiums for those who have health insurance.

I am committed to curtailing these skyrocketing health care costs and reducing the number of uninsured.