Single Payer Health Care
American Health Security Act of 2011
S915 - Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT
HR1200 - Representative Jim McDermott, D-WA
Establishes a progressively financed, single-standard of high quality healthcare for all
The American Health Security Act of 2011 provides every American with comprehensive, guaranteed health care by requiring each participating state to set up and administer a state single payer health program. Private health insurance sold by for-profit companies could only exist to provide supplemental coverage. Cornerstones of the AHSA of 2011:
- Expanded Medicare for all, universal coverage with benefits emphasizing primary and preventive care, and free choice of providers. Inpatient services, long term care, a broad range of services for mental illness and substance abuse, and care coordination services will also be covered;
- Cost control and deficit reductions through fixed, annual, and global budgets, and large scale bulk purchasing. Budget increases would be limited to the rate of growth of the gross domestic product;
- Public accountability and measures of quality based on outcomes data designed by providers and patients;
- Establishes Health Security Trust Fund and progressive financing based on appropriate payroll tax on employers, fair income-based tax for workers, surcharge on high income individuals, current health program receipts, and securities transaction taxes.
- A new Office of Primary Care and Prevention Research will be created within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The Program seeks to ensure medical decisions are made by patients and their health care providers, not insurance company executives acting on behalf of profit-driven interests.
AHSA of 2011 incorporates Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and TRICARE (the Department of Defense health care program), but maintains health care programs under the Veterans Affairs Administration.
The bill relieves businesses from the administrative burdens of providing health care coverage, puts all businesses on an even playing field in healthcare coverage. It increases the global competitiveness of American companies with every other industrialized nation that has been able to use the power of a public authority to provide universal health care.
Major sponsors include National Nurses United and the AFL-CIO.
