Congressman Jim McDermott - Issues

Rep. McDermott Introduces Universal Health Care Legislation Single Payer – Individual Choice

Re-affirming his commitment to providing every American with access to affordable health care coverage, Rep. Jim McDermott today introduced HR 1200, the American Health Security Act. McDermott’s legislation would ensure that every American receives a minimum set of basic health benefits, publically funded but privately delivered and managed.

Seven House colleagues joined McDermott as original co-sponsors of the legislation, including: Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. John W. Olver (D-MA), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA).

Under McDermott’s bill, each State would establish and manage the oversight of its own health care plan starting from a floor of basic health care benefits that would be established by the federal government. Every American would be covered under McDermott’s plan and the federal government would act as a single payer, eliminating waste and channeling dollars to their intended purpose of health care service delivery.

“HR 1200 will make affordable access to health care coverage for every American a reality of the 21st Century,” McDermott said. He added: “The legislation will streamline tens of thousands of existing plans, eliminate millions of pages of useless paperwork, drive decisions down to the local level, closest to the people, and enable the American people to focus their financial resources where they belong – paying for health care services, not health care bureaucracy.”

Rep. McDermott, himself a medical doctor and child psychiatrist, has introduced universal health care legislation in every Congress since 1993, the last time America made a serious attempt to solve the nation’s health care crisis. “Over the last 15 years, America’s health care crisis has only gotten much worse; the American people have been forced to spend much more and receive less.”

McDermott said the health care crisis has dramatically worsened America’s current economic crisis and noted the current system is not merely broken, it is failing the American people every day and he offered some statistics to make his point:

Unpaid medical expenses are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in America today,
The number of private employers offering health care benefits to employees, the heart of America’s current method of providing benefits, is inextricably falling and even where employers still offer coverage, the cost is shifting dramatically onto the backs of workers, already strained to the financial breaking point.
The out-of-pocket cost of health care for the average American is rising faster than wages, inflation or any ability of all but the rich to pay.

In offering the legislation, McDermott praised President Obama, who promised to make health care a top legislative priority this year. “The President is exactly right in his expression of compassion for the plight of the American people and his commitment to finally address the issue before the end of this year.”