The Bush Line: President Bush's Health Care Proposals

President Bush's Health Care Proposals

Tax Credits To Small Businesses And Their Employees To Set Up Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).  More than half of the uninsured are small business employees and their families.  President Bush proposes giving small business owners a refundable tax credit for contributions they make to their employees’ HSAs (applies to the first $500 per worker with family coverage, first $200 per worker with individual coverage). 

Direct Help For Low-Income Americans To Purchase HSAs.  To extend the benefits of HSAs to low-income Americans, the President proposes giving families a $1,000 direct contribution to their HSA, along with a $2,000 refundable tax credit to help purchase a policy to cover major medical expenses.  Individuals would receive a $300 HSA contribution and $700 refundable tax credit.

Association Health Plans (AHPs) For Civic Groups And Other Community Organizations.  In addition to supporting AHPs for small businesses, the President proposes allowing local groups to band together through their regional or national organizations to negotiate low-priced coverage for their members. 

Cover The Kids Campaign.  The President will launch an aggressive, billion-dollar effort to enroll children who are eligible but not signed up for the government’s health insurance programs.  The goal will be to cover millions more SCHIP and Medicaid-eligible children within the next two years.

State-Run Insurance Pools To Help Low-Income Americans Get The Most Out Of Their Credits.  The President proposes $4 billion in grants to encourage states to create purchasing pools that will help reduce the cost of buying insurance and make it easier and faster to shop for coverage.

National Marketplace To Shop For Health Insurance.  Individual consumers can only purchase health insurance in the state where they live and cannot shop around for a better deal in another state.  President Bush believes giving people the freedom to shop in a competitive marketplace across state lines can increase the availability of health care coverage and drive down costs.

A Health Center Or Clinic In Every Poor County In America.  The President’s current initiative has increased the number of people served in health centers by almost 30 percent.  The goal of the new initiative is to ensure that every poor county in America has a community or rural health center.

President Bush's Health Care Record

Created A Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit To Help Seniors Pay For Their Medicines.  More than 4 million seniors are already saving with Medicare drug discount cards, including low-income seniors who get a credit of $600 annually added to their cards.

Established New, Tax-Free Health Savings Accounts.  These give workers the opportunity to save tax free for routine health expenses, the security of insurance against major illness, and the freedom to control their accounts and to take their account with them whenever they change jobs.

Proposed Medical Liability Reform To Limit Frivolous Lawsuits And Excessive Jury Awards.  These lawsuits are driving good doctors out of practice, driving up health care costs for everyone, and threatening access to needed care.

Opened Or Expanded More Than 600 Community Health Center Sites.  These are delivering care to 3 million additional Americans, including individuals and children who are uninsured, low-income, or homeless, and migrant farm workers.  The President is on track to meet his commitment to open or expand 1,200 health center sites by 2006 to serve an additional 6.1 million Americans.

Extended Eligibility Under Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) To An Estimated 2.6 Million Low-Income Americans By Granting Waivers And Flexibility To States.

Launched A Health IT Initiative To Reduce Errors, Cut Waste, And Lower Costs.  The President’s goal is to make electronic medical records universally available for most Americans in the next ten years;

Strengthened Competition Between Generic And Brand-Name Drugs.  This is expected to save American consumers more than $35 billion in drug costs over the next 10 years. 

Fought Health Care Fraud And Waste By Cutting Wasteful Spending Out Of The Medicare And Medicaid Programs.  The Medicare bill that the President signed will cut wasteful spending and save seniors and taxpayers an estimated $20 billion over the next decade.

http://www.georgewbush.com/HealthCare/read.aspx?ID=4011

The Kerry Line: Kerry's Opposition to Lower Healthcare Costs

"John Kerry is using cynical scare tactics to hide the fact that he has consistently stood in the way of lowering health care costs and increasing vaccine production. Kerry has received more money from lawyers than any other senator over the past 15 years, and his hypocritical health care attacks show he will say anything he thinks will help him politically."

- Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman

Kerry Opposes Medical Liability Reform

• Kerry Opposed Or Voted To Block Medical Liability Reform At Least Ten Times.
• Kerry Missed Both 2004 Votes On Medical Liability Reform. The February 2004 vote was a motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the motion to proceed to consideration of the bill that would place caps on damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits against obstetricians and gynecologists. The April 2004 vote was a motion to invoke cloture on a similar bill that would curb awards against emergency and trauma center personnel, as well as ob-gyns.

Medical Liability Reform Will Reduce Health Care Costs For American Families

• Medical Liability Reform Could Save Between $60 Billion And $108 Billion In Health Care Costs Annually, Making Health Insurance More Affordable For Millions. "The [medical malpractice] litigation system also imposes large indirect costs on the health care system. Defensive medicine that is caused by unlimited and unpredictable liability awards not only increases patients' risk but it also adds costs. The leading study estimates that limiting unreasonable awards for non-economic damages could reduce health care costs by 5-9% without adversely affecting quality of care. This would save $60-108 billion in health care costs each year. These savings would lower the cost of health insurance and permit an additional 2.4-4.3 million Americans to obtain insurance." ("Confronting The New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality And Lowering Costs By Fixing Our Medical Liability System," U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services, 7/25/02)

Kerry Is An Obstacle To Flu Vaccine Production:

Kerry Opposes The HEALTH Act Of 2003, Which Would Encourage Vaccine Production. The HEALTH Act of 2003, which President Bush supports but Kerry opposes, contains a provision immunizing vaccine manufacturers from punitive damages for products that are approved as safe by the FDA. Because profit margins on vaccines are low, such a provision is critical to encouraging the development and manufacture of vaccines. (H.R. 5, The HEALTH Act of 2003, Section 7; Business Week, "Biotech's Babies," 1/14/04)

• Kerry Missed 2003 Vote On Medical Liability Reform But Announced Against It. The July 2003 vote was a motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the motion to proceed to the bill that would cap awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. It would limit awards for non-economic damages to $250,000, cap punitive damages at $250,000 or double economic damages, whichever is greater, and would protect manufacturers of FDA-approved medical products such as vaccines from punitive damages. (S. 11, CQ Vote #264: Motion Rejected 49-48: R 49-2; D 0-45; I 0-1, 7/9/03, Kerry Did Not Vote But Announced Against)

Just Last Year, The FDA Approved A New Flu Vaccine – But Kerry Would Deny That Flu Vaccine Important Protections. In 2003, the FDA approved FluMist, a new inhalable flu vaccine that does not require a shot and is thus ideal for children ages 5 to 17. The FDA's approval of FluMist would qualify it for protection under the HEALTH Act, but Kerry opposes the bill. (Marilynn Marchione, "FDA Approves Inhaled Flu Vaccine," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/18/03)

Lawyers Have Donated More To Kerry Than Any Other Senator Over The Past 15 Years

Since 1989, Kerry Has Received $15,217,154 From Lawyers, Most Of Any Senator In That Time Period. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 8/16/04)
• Kerry's Presidential Campaign Has Received $13,838,965 From Lawyers. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 8/16/04)

DNC Has Raised Over $2.2 Million From Trial Lawyers This Cycle. (Dwight L. Morris & Associates Website, www.campaignfinanceanalysisproject.com, Accessed 9/6/04)

http://www.georgewbush.com/HealthCare/read.aspx?ID=4010