A State-Based Plan to Cover the Uninsured By U.S. Senator Russ Feingold Sheboygan Press August 29, 2006 Our nation’s health care system is facing a crisis that affects everyone -- from our nation’s 46 million uninsured, to small businesses struggling to afford coverage for their employees, to insured Americans who bear the costs of this broken system as their premiums skyrocket year to year. Every year, this crisis continues to escalate in our communities, and yet Congress has failed to address it head-on. Every year, Wisconsinites come in droves to my 72 annual listening sessions to talk about the failures of our health care system. What I hear in those meetings -- the anguish of people whose health is in jeopardy, the stress of people facing mounting bills, and the frustration of business people who once wanted government to stay out of health care, but now demand that government step in -- have convinced me that we must change the health care system in this country. My bill addresses Wisconsinites’ concerns by proposing a way to break the political deadlock that is preventing Congress from reforming our broken health care system. The numbers speak for themselves. The uninsured are seven times more likely to seek care in an emergency room – which is often costly -- and are less likely to receive preventative care because they cannot afford to see the doctor. An estimated 18,000 people die prematurely in this country because of uninsurance every year. We spend nearly $100 billion annually to provide uninsured residents with health services. Of that total, $69 billion is paid for by businesses and families with private insurance. My legislation harnesses American ingenuity to help find solutions to the health care crisis. Under the State-Based Health Care Reform Act, the federal government would help a few states provide health insurance for all their citizens, but it’s up to those states to decide how they want to go about it. Rather than directing states to implement a specific health care system, the bill provides a flexible approach that allows states to try innovative approaches to achieve universal coverage. My bill would authorize funding to launch this pilot program, and create a non-partisan Health Care Reform Task Force, of which the Secretary of Health and Human Services would be a member. The Task Force would review applications from states that volunteer for the program, green light selected states to implement their proposal as a five-year pilot program, and review the results annually. The Task Force would then report back to Congress on the pilot programs so that Congress can figure out what works and what doesn’t. The bill won’t increase the deficit because it is completely paid for through offsets in other programs. That means the bill’s funding will be available as soon as it’s passed into law so that health care reform can be implemented right away. This approach takes advantage of one of America’s greatest resources -- our talent for innovation -- to move our country to broader health care reform. This bill gives the states flexibility to find out how we can move forward, and to come up with innovative ways to cover their citizens. Those ideas, once tested, can be a springboard for broader reform. We are already seeing states move ahead of the federal government on covering the uninsured. Massachusetts has passed into law a plan to require health insurance for residents. In Wisconsin there are ongoing discussions about state health care reform. While many of the proposals differ, it is obvious that Wisconsinites agree on one thing: reform needs to happen now. The federal government should be working to encourage these innovative initiatives, and my bill does just that. With the need for reform so clear and so immediate, we need to move beyond the polarized debate in Congress, which is the intention of my bill. By proposing this legislation, I hope to jumpstart the health care debate and move us toward the ultimate goal I share with so many Wisconsinites – guaranteed universal health care. We must bring coverage to all uninsured Americans, and this bill is a sensible first step in that direction. It proposes an approach that members of both parties can support. Health care reform is a critical national issue, but it is also a deeply personal issue for the millions of Americans who have been affected by this broken system. The stress it has created for families struggling with huge medical bills, and for businesses that want to cover employees, but are being devastated by those costs, are impossible to measure. We must address the broken health care system in this country, and I am committed to moving our nation forward on health care reform. Every year, the health care crisis deepens, and this should be the year that we break the logjam and do something about it. It’s time to come together, make the tough decisions, and find a way to bring health care coverage to every American.