Kennedy proposes $100b health plan

CBS MarketWatch.com ^ | 01/22/04 | William L. Watts

[SierraWasp]

Kennedy proposes $100b health plan

By William L. Watts, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:38 PM ET Jan. 22, 2004

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Sen. Edward Kennedy on Thursday proposed a $100 billion-a-year health plan that would provide insurance for all American workers, setting out a marker for Democrats in an election year debate over health care.

President Bush, in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, said a government-run healthcare plan is the "wrong prescription." Bush praised Congress for passage last year of a largely Republican-backed Medicare prescription drug bill and called for enactment this year of additional GOP-backed proposals to provide health coverage to the uninsured, including tax credits for low-income Americans.

Kennedy, the senior Democrat on the Senate health and education committee, acknowledged that moving a health care bill, with Democrats in the minority, was a long shot this year.

"We have it in our power to make the fundamental right of health care a reality for all Americans. I say let's get it done. If not this year, then next year with a new Congress and a new administration elected with a mandate to get it done," the Massachusetts senator said.

The Kennedy bill, titled the Health Security and Affordability Act, would require all employers with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance coverage to their workers and workers' families. Employers would be required to pay 75 percent of the premium. But the employer contribution would be capped at 12 percent of payroll.

Smaller businesses would have the option of making a sliding scale contribution for their workers through the National Health Benefit Program based on their ability to pay. Some small businesses wouldn't be required to make any contribution.

Low-income workers would be eligible for government subsidies.

The bill also addressed Democratic criticisms of the $400 billion Medicare drug bill. The Kennedy plan would allow re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada and the European Union and would give the federal government authority to negotiate price discounts for senior citizens through the Medicare program.

In 2000, Congress approved legislation allowing the resale of prescription drugs into the U.S. but included language requiring that the Secretary of Health and Human Services certify that the imported drugs were safe. Both Clinton and Bush Administration appointees have refused to make that certification.

The Medicare bill continues the restriction.

[SierraWasp]

Phooey!!!

[rintense]

HAHAHAHAHAHA! This guy is just so 1992.

[soozla]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

[Thinkin' Gal]

Kennedy proposes $100b health plan

[Nachum]

NO matter what a pig this man is, he represents a serious threat that must be rebutted.

[newgeezer]

Oh, so THIS explains all his head-shaking and other assorted negative gesturing during the President's SOTU address the other night.

[Howie66]

I hear that Ted "Chappaquiddick" Kennedy said that the healthcare proposal suggested by President Bush, was akin to "throwing a very short rope to a drowning man". Freudain slip, perhaps?

[angkor]

Does this health plan include dailiy rations of Bushmill's and Chips A'hoy?

[dixierat22]

"We have it in our power to make the fundamental right of health care a reality for all Americans...."

Now, if he or anyone else in the country can show me WHERE in the US Constitution health care is a RIGHT, I'll go along.

[TSgt]

I said that very thing the other night when I heard a Dem Pres candidate mention "Healthcare Rights."

I'm missing that page in my Constitution.

If anyone finds it, could I have a copy?

[windchime]

For cosmetic surgery on his chest?

[Lancey Howard]

The New York Post | 11-19-2003 | Richard Johnson

November 19, 2003 -- DAN Aykroyd is no fan of the bureaucratic bungling and cut-rate care of socialized medicine. "One place you don't want to get sick is Quebec," the Canadian actor advised us after a screening of Denys Arcand's "The Barbarian Invasions." "It's all socialized. Believe me, you don't want to go to a hospital there.

[SierraWasp]

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........."

Evidently the mod agrees with you as the title has been not only removed from "Breaking News," but from any sidebar whatsoever! Is there a new rule that a poster is allowed only one "Breaking News" per day?

[RightWhale]

WHERE in the US Constitution

It's a human right according to the UN, and the US is already one of the most compliant countries.

[Solson]

IF this went into place, small businesses across the country would die on the vine. We would see mass unemployement.

[angkor]

[cynicom]

What a piker Kennedy is. Our man in Washington, Conservative Bush can trump that with a $200 Billion dollar bid.

[theDentist]

SO "Splash" cries that there's no way in hell we can come close to affording $125Billion to put a man on the moon, let alone Mars, but we sure can afford $100 Billion for his health plan.
What a ***********************!!!

[JustPlainJoe]

"Annd I propose, free liquoahhh foh every American!"

[tessalu]

Lack of Health care in America is very serious. I would abandon the candidate of my choice in order to secure adequate health care for all Americans. I think that what has happened to health care in America is criminal. The thieves have found away of robbing Americans in regard to health care, and this needs to be stopped immediately.

This prescription plan for seniors is just a joke, and it favors the pharmacueticals over people, so I am not favoring Bush in this regard. Bush is offering to provide job training, when the USA has already been bled with job loss for Americans. We cannot let Bush get away with this, and we must look for alternatives, whatever that might be.