from Floyd McDowell

• . This Act is NOT socialized medicine or health care. Physicians and other health care professionals will NOT be working as salaried government employees under government rules and regulations as in our excellent Military and Veterans Administration’s program and cost effective single payer health care systems;
• . This Act will free physicians and other health care professionals from the disrespectful, degrading reality of having to get permission for some health care decisions from profit-protecting health insurance company staff;
• .Will elimiate the totally unnecessary, controlling health insurance industry (including AARP) as they don’t contribute even a Band-Aid to any part of health care yet control some decisions and careers of health care professional staff. This will save approximately 40 percent of all Delaware health care funds (over $8 million each day in 2009) via 30 percent administrative/overhead cost (tons of multi-payer paperwork, profits, advertising, lobbying, etc.) and a minimum of 10 percent lost to unchecked fraud;
• . Act will operate like our successful single payer Medicare program which as an administrative/overhead cost of 1.5% and will have adequate funds to properly pay all health care providers;
• . Approximately 90 percent of Delaware’s health care funds are contributed by hard-working Delaware citizens via approximately 70 percent from taxes and 20 percent from out-of-pocket expenses and this Act will ensure that their funds are used to cover ALL citizens and their families. How can an elected state official not support this when citizens’ tax funds provide each of them and her/his family health care coverage?;
• . Under this Act, all citizens will receive comprehensive health care coverage from conception until death without any expense for extra insurance, co-payments or deductibles. The Act’s universal, comprehensive coverage includes the services of all physicians, hospitals, all types of long-term care, pharmaceutical drugs, laboratories, dental care, mental health treatment, drug treatment, services for our disabled, special equipment and aids, etc.;
• . Citizens will always choose their physicians, specialists and all other health care providers;
• . Will eliminate the Medicare/Medicaid pauper requirement that one must give up all savings and property to receive long-term care assistance;
• . Will eliminate the harmful stress on uninsured/underinsured and health care debt, the primary cause of personal bankruptcies and why many citizens can’t purchase homes and are forced to lose homes;
• . Act will enable many citizens to receive less costly preventive and interventive health care services instead of filling up more costly hospital emergency rooms;
• . Personal health care savings will enable hundreds of millions annually to be spent in our state’s economy;
• . It will eliminate the large annual increases in health care costs as only the lower rate of inflation will apply;
• , Health Security Fund will self-insure liability coverage for health professionals at a fraction of current cost;
• . Of all 30 other developed nations, ours is the only one not providing health care coverage to all citizens;
• . This Act will save our state’s budget over $200 million each year in lowered costs for health care to cover state employees/retirees and other health care programs;
• . This Act will serve as a magnet for both attracting and retaining private businesses competing in the global economy. For example, it would keep our automobile manufacturing industries in our state;
• . It will save private and public employers 40% in Workmen’s Compensation coverage cost;
• . Under this Act, our state’s private businesses will pay approximately 10% into the total health care funds. Seven percent will be by large businesses and they will pay less than they now pay for employees/retirees;
• . Our state’s small businesses will pay only 3% of total health care funds under a graduated scale which allows them to pay approximately one-half of what large businesses pay. Now their employees/retirees go to emergency rooms and that cost is shifted to taxpayers and increased premium costs for insured;
• . This Act will fully utilize the 7-step fraud control strategy explained in Dr. Malcolm Sparrow’s publication titled License to Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America’s Health Care System. Dr. Sparrow, Professor in the School of Government at Harvard University, is our nation’s recognized authority on health care fraud; and
• . Only ONE downside to the Act and it’s temporary. Many paperwork emloyees will be out of work. However, there’ll be a 5% increase in health care utilization. The Act will have funds to train and give economic stipends to replaced workers who want to fill the positions for extra needed nurses, nurse’s aides, dental technicians, etc.
• Our Coalition’s single payer Act will be assigned to a Committee and introduced as Senate Bill 120 in early June, 2009. In 2007, it had 18 legislator co-sponsors. Since 2007, our supportive Delaware Health Security Coalition has increased from 20 to 32 statewide organizations and we expect 40 by the next election cycle. We request that this valuable information be shared with family members and friends. Then insist all express support for it to your State Legislators and Governor. Poll after poll show citizen support for single payer reform at between 67 and 70 percent of citizens polled.Our Act is more thoroughly explained on the Health Care page of our Forum’s nonprofit, nonpartisan deinformedvoters.org web site.

For inquiries concerning this program and cost effective Act, contact Dr. Floyd E. McDowell, Sr., Coalition Chairperson at (302) 832-2799 or via email at flydmcdwll@comcast.net.

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