Prescription for Change: Reform Health Care

Give us real health care choices -- support a public plan

Dear [Decision Maker],

Americans are suffering, and we expect the new Administration and Congress to give us real help. Which is why I'm urging you to stand up for real health reform, and support a public plan option that will give us the reliable health coverage we need, when we need it, at more affordable prices.

We need real change in our health care system to get our country back on sound financial footing. And real change means giving consumers real choice. Right now, we're forced to accept coverage from the giant, private insurance companies who deny pre-existing conditions, refuse needed treatments, and continually increase our co-pays, deductibles and out-of-pockets costs, while their profits soar.


I want to have real choices -- plans offered by private insurers, as well as a public plan option that will guarantee me coverage and lower my costs. A recent study by The Lewin Group, a health care policy research group, found that a public-plan option will cost 10 percent less than private insurance, in part because it will have lower administrative costs (no TV ads, low executive pay, less claim-related bureaucracy) while guaranteeing consumers coverage. Insurers typically keep around 15 to 25 percent of the premiums they collect to cover administrative and marketing costs, plus profit. A public plan wouldn't have all that overhead, lowering our costs.

A public plan option also will help the millions of uninsured Americans get the coverage they need, and as a result, help avoid medical bankruptcies that further harm our economy. Right now, we're held captive by private insurance companies that are more interested in maximizing their profits than providing affordable, guaranteed coverage. In 2006, the nation's six biggest private health insurers collectively earned almost $11 billion in profits. They're looking out for profits, not our best interests.

We saw what happened when Congress blocked a public-plan option for prescription drug coverage for seniors (Medicare Part D), allowing only private insurance companies to offer coverage. Seniors had to choose from a dizzying array of confusing plans, and once they enrolled, their out-of-pocket costs skyrocketed, because insurers were allowed to change what they charged for drugs, as well as the drugs they covered, during the year. Seniors were stuck, since they could only change plans once a year.

And since Medicare was prohibited from using its bargaining power to negotiate lower drug prices, taxpayers are estimated to pay an extra $61 billion over the next decade for Part D because only private insurers can offer coverage.

[Your comments here]

We can do better, and we must do better, if America is to get out of this financial hole. Offering a public plan option for health coverage will give consumers real choice, and ensure that we can choose a stable, consistent coverage plan that will provide us the care we need, when we need it, at affordable rates. I urge you to stand up for real health care reform, and support a public plan option.