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Universal Insurance for All Americans
The MIT Press
October 2007
On Sale: October 31, 2007
96 pages
ISBN: 0262113147
EAN: 9780262113144
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
The shocking statistic is that forty-seven million Americans
have no health insurance. When uninsured Americans go to the
emergency room for treatment, however, they do receive
care--and a bill. Many hospitals now require uninsured
patients to put their treatment on a credit card--which can
saddle a low-income household with unpayably high balances
that can lead to personal bankruptcy. Why don't these people
just buy health insurance? Because the cost of coverage that
doesn't come through an employer is more than many low- and
middle-income households make in a year. Meanwhile, rising
healthcare costs for employees are driving many businesses
under. As for government-supplied health care, ever higher
costs and added benefits (for example, Part D, Medicare's
new prescription drug coverage) make both Medicare and
Medicaid impossible to sustain fiscally; benefits grow
faster than the national per-capita income. It's obvious the
system is broken. What can we do? In The Healthcare Fix, economist Laurence Kotlikoff proposes
a simple, straightforward approach to the problem that would
create one system that works for everyone--and secure
America's fiscal and economic future. Kotlikoff's proposed
Medical Security System is not the "socialized medicine" so
feared by Republicans and libertarians; it's a plan for
universal health insurance. Because everyone would be
insured, it's also a plan for universal healthcare. Participants--including all who are currently uninsured, all
Medicaid and Medicare recipients, and all with private or
employer-supplied insurance--would receive annual vouchers
for health insurance, the amount of which would be based on
their current medical condition. Insurance companies would
willingly accept people with health problems because their
vouchers would be higher. And the government could control
costs by establishing the values of the vouchers so that
benefit growth no longer outstrips growth of the nation's
per capita income. It's a "single-payer" plan--but a single
payer for insurance. The American healthcare industry would
remain competitive, innovative, strong, and private. Kotlikoff's plan is strong medicine for America's healthcare
crisis, but brilliant in its simplicity. Its provisions can
fit on a postcard--and Kotlikoff provides one, ready to be
copied and mailed to your representative in Congress. We're
electing a new president in 2008; let's choose a new
healthcare system, too--one that works.
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