ABLEnews Extra As California's single-payer health care reform initiative, Proposition 186, nears a vote, we bring you these self-described partisan views (not necessarily our own) as posted by Rich Winkel on the Activists list. (We have adjusted the non-speech-synthesizer -friendly format of the pamphlet as originally posted in the hope of ehancing access to this information.) [The following file may be freq'd as CASP9409.* from 1:109/909 and other BBS's that carry the ABLEFiles Distribution Network (AFDN) and--for about one week-- ftp'd from FTP.FIDONET.ORG on the Internet. Please allow a few days for processing.] Subject: CA Prop 186: Get the Facts Straight Prop. 186? LET'S GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT! This November 8th you can choose a superior HEALTH BENEFITS PACKAGE for Californians. It is Prop. 186, the Health Services Act. Prop. 186 is also known as the Health Security Act, single payer plan. The benefits include: 1 The right to choose your own doctor; 2 Full in-patient & out-patient medical care; 3 Full mental health services; 4 Full long term care (in nursing facilities and at home); 5 Most prescription drugs; some vitamins; 6 Most prosthetics, eyeglasses, hearing aids; 7 Some dental work; 8 Alternative therapy (acupuncture, chiropractic, etc.). Should you lose your job, or change jobs, you will NOT lose this coverage. All "deductibles" and exclusions for "pre-existing" conditions will be eliminated. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? The health coverage premiums you now pay to insurance companies will be replaced by a 2.5% health tax on your TAXABLE income (after deductions). For example: ABLEnews Editor's Note: The adjustment noted above follows. There are three columns. The description of each follows: Column 1: If your family's yearly income after deductions is: Column 2: the health tax rate on your income will be: Column 3: Your monthly health tax will be: $ 20,000 2.5% $ 42 $ 25,000 2.5% $ 52 $ 35,000 2.5% $ 73 $ 40,000 2.5% $ 83 $ 60,000 2.5% $ 125 $ 80,000 2.5% $ 167 $100,000 2.5% $ 208 $250,000 2.5% $ 521 The health coverage premiums employers now pay to insurance companies will be REPLACED by a payroll tax that favors small business as shown here: Prop. 186 Savings to Business ABLEnews Editor's Note: Three columns follow. Column 1: Number of equivalent full-time employees: Column 2: Today's average cost for health premiums: Column 3: Under Prop. 186 health tax % of payroll: 1- 9 13.5% 4.4% 10-24 10.8% 6.0% 25-49 10.4% 7.0% 50 or more 10.4% 8.9% HOW MUCH WILL PROP. 186 SAVE? THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD WILL SAVE $1000 TO $2000 PER YEAR. These savings are achieved by replacing health insurance company premiums with a single payer system. A few examples are: 1 Eliminate supplementary premiums for seniors; 2 Eliminate most outlays for prescription drugs; 3 Eliminate the medical component of auto and personal liability insurance. For businesses, the medical component (currently 30%) of Workman's Comp. premiums will be eliminated. The HUGE SAVINGS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES are shown above. The public would save huge sums of money. For public school teachers' medical benefits alone, the savings under Prop. 186 amount to over $600 million per year. WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM? A $1/pack tax on cigarettes will yield $1 billion a year; the 2.5% personal income tax will yield $10 billion a year; the payroll tax will yield $37 billion a year. State and federal monies already allocated towards health care in California will supply $60 billion into the California Prop. 186 fund. WHAT ARE PEOPLE ARGUING ABOUT? Did you realize that 63% of the HMOs in the US are owned by the top insurance companies (Aetna, Blue Cross, HIP of Greater NY, Humana, Kaiser, MetLife, Prudential, United HealthCare, and US Healthcare and Travelers)? The profits for some of their HMO divisions in 1993 were: $234 million for CIGNA, $299 million for US Healthcare, and $194 million for United HealthCare. Insurance companies are rapidly buying up hospitals and nursing homes, and tripling physicians' case loads. This leads to an assembly-line industrialization of medical care. CURE Comment: We entirely agree with the above analysis of the danger HMOs and managed care present to the availability and quality of medical care particularly in the critical care challenges the patients and families we work with face. The above are some of the reasons why Prop. 186 has among its endorsers and supporters the 77,000 member American College of Physicians, who voted to recommend a government cap on their fees and institute a health care system incorporating the best features of the Canadian style single payer plan. False allegations about "waiting in line in Canada" are refuted by the US General Accounting Office which studied the Canadian system in 1991. The American College of Surgeons also endorsed a single payer plan in February, 1994. In addition, the California Nurses Association has endorsed Prop. 186. Even the American Medical Association (AMA) no longer attacks comprehensive health care reform as "socialized medicine." BUREAUCRACY? Opponents of Prop. 186 claim that "the government will take over" or that "government bureaucracy will control our lives." This belies the time-tested success of Medicare and Social Security. CURE Comment: We would scarcely call these bare-bones, or rather skull-and-cross bones systems (savaged by social Darwinians of the left and right) "successes." As it is now, the overwhelming amount of paperwork that insurance companies force upon health care providers is already a bureaucracy. The billions we spend on paper work and administrators today drain the treasury and cause bureaucratic abuse. The General Accounting Office found that by eliminating administrative waste and the profits of insurance companies, the shift to a single payer system would cut $67 billion per year from our country's medical bill. In contrast, Prop. 186 strictly limits administrative costs to 4% of California's total health care budget. The CEOs and chairs of the board of today's health industry corporations receive yearly "compensations" in the 7 and 8 figure range. For example, at Nat'l Medical Enterprises, R.K. Eamer, COB,CEO, $17,551,778, L. Cohen, Pres., $8,336,441; at ICN Pharmaceuticals, M. Panic Pres., CEO, $6,143,681; at Occupational Urgent Care, W.R. Keen, Pres., $4,016,952. "HEALTH CZAR"? Opponents of Prop. 186 have used this phrase to mislead the public about the Health Commissioner provision of Prop. 186. The Health Commissioner will be elected for a 4-year term, & required to face public hearings annually. These requirements make the Health Commissioner far more accountable to the people than insurance company executives are today. An expert, professional Advisory Board on medical policy is to be appointed by the Health Commissioner. Above all, a key provision of Prop. 186 is the appointment of Regional Consumer Advocates, through an independent Consumer Council (which citizens can join). Regional public hearings are to be held annually. The elected Health Commissioner will negotiate with providers to set prices and fees for services. As for "concerns" that taxes will be raised, it takes a 2/3 majority vote of the California legislature if Prop. 186 taxes are to be raised. Medical providers should be able to give the finest patient care, rather than have patients turned into business commodities. Let's make California a pioneer of a single payer system in this country. AS CALIFORNIA GOES, SO GOES THE NATION? Reference regarding "compensation" of health industry CEOs, etc: L.A. Times, May 17, 1992. Fall, 1994. Issued as a public service by Friends of Prop. 186, South Bay Los Angeles Redondo Beach, CA 90278 A Fidonet-backbone echo featuring disability/medical news and information, ABLEnews is carried by more than 460 BBSs in the US, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Greece, New Zealand, and Sweden. The echo, available from Fidonet and Planet Connect, is gated to the ADANet, FamilyNet, and World Message Exchange networks. ABLEnews text files--including our digests Of Note and MedNotes (suitable for bulletin use) are disseminated via the ABLEfile Distribution Network, available from the filebone, Planet Connect, and ftp. fidonet.org ...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen St., Berkeley Springs, WV 25411. 304-258-LIFE/258-5433 (earl.appleby@deafworld.com)