Capitol Hill Sees Renewed Push For Universal Health Care

While many lawmakers agree that universal health care will be a top issue in the 2008 presidential elections, House Democrats, led by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich, are urging Congress for a single-payer system now. Rep. Conyers Jr. introduced legislation earlier this year which would allow all Americans to be eligible for the federal Medicaid program.

“We’ve seen quite a few proposals for how to fix the nation’s health care crisis,” said Kristie Darien, executive director of the NASE legislative office. “The NASE does not believe the solution to this growing problem is to allow our government to make citizens’ health care choices. Legislators should be working to increase options for quality, affordable health coverage. Not limiting options to one only: the federal government.”

Conyers’ bill would seek to offset the cost of the bill’s implementation with a number of tax increases. A health tax of 5 percent would apply to the top 5 percent of wage earners and a 10 percent tax would be applied to the top one percent of wage earners. The bill would repeal the tax cuts President Bush put in place for the nation’s top earners. In addition, it would add a stock transition tax at a fraction of a percent.

For more information on the proposal, HR 676, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/.

For additional information on this issue, please visit: http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/n140UniversalAccessPDF.pdf