I am very pleased that Sen. Kay Hagan is committed to reform that makes comprehensive health care affordable and accessible to all Americans without increasing the deficit.
To make these goals reality, I urge the senator to work for a robust public option based on Medicare rates and providers, and large enough to set new cost standards. The goal of a public option is not fair competition for health insurance companies at existing prices. The goal is to bring down our costs for health care into the range that we see for other capitalist democracies like Switzerland, Germany and Japan, with less than half of our costs.
They set a single set of rates for all procedures and all providers for a generous package of basic comprehensive health care for all citizens. Insurance companies still thrive in these countries, competing on price and other services, including supplemental packages.
