The United States is one of the few industrialized nations in the world without some version of universal healthcare. As it turns out, healthcare is an extremely important issue for many Americans.
Senator Amy Klobuchar understands that on a personal level, and she has a plan to address it.
Who Is Amy Klobuchar?
Amy Klobuchar is a lawyer and the senior US Senator for Minnesota. In February 2019, she threw her hat in as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Klobuchar graduated from Yale and received her law degree from the University of Chicago. In 2006, she was elected to the Senate as a Democrat, and she’s won every reelection since.
Klobuchar has championed platforms in tune with modern liberal ideology, including expanding Medicaid and Medicare. An ambitious politician, she has either sponsored or cosponsored over a hundred pieces of legislation which eventually turned into laws, an impressive record.
As the 2020 election has steamed onward, Klobuchar has narrowed her focus on a few consistent concepts. One of the more familiar ones is her position on expanding Medicaid and Medicare through a public option.
Universal Healthcare Starts With A Public Option
In its current convoluted state, healthcare in the United States is not available to many people, even if they’re gainfully employed. A number of suggestions have been made to address this conundrum.
One of the most popular suggestions to come from the recent crop of Democratic presidential candidates is the introduction of a public option as a prelude to universal healthcare.
What Does It Mean?
A public option is just that, a non-mandatory opportunity to do something like purchase coverage under Medicaid, or purchase a public plan derived from Medicare. In support of the idea that universal healthcare is the best option for America, Klobuchar has acted as a co sponsor for legislation like the State Public Option Act and the Medicare-X Choice Act. These articles of legislation push for citizens to have access to public insurance plans if they wish to enroll in one.
How Much Will It Cost?
Amy Klobuchar’s healthcare plan, revolving around a public option, would raise federal government spending by about $120 billion, compared to the current rate. National spending on healthcare would decrease by about $23 billion.
In the presence of a public option, even private insurers would see their costs going down - and the savings would be passed on to families.
It’s difficult to pin down exactly how much the taxpayer would have to shell out to get the public option up and running, but compared to most projections for a single payer system, Amy Klobuchar’s healthcare plan would most likely be much more cost effective.
Other Key Details of Amy Klobuchar’s Healthcare Plan
Here are some more Klobuchar Healthcare Details:
- Senator Klobuchar wants to lower healthcare costs for all citizens by reducing out of pocket costs, such as copays or deductibles.
- If states have less trouble issuing reinsurance programs, high-cost patients will be less likely to drive up costs.
- Modifying the delivery of healthcare to favor quality of service instead of volume would help increase quality of life.
- Bogus health insurance plans can bring financial ruin; more attention needs to be paid to them until they’ve been stamped out.
- We need to address the dearth of maternity care professionals, especially in some rural and urban locations. Maternal mortality rates could be lowered significantly.
Klobuchar would like to install refundable tax credits to compensate for chronic condition care costs.
Aside from insurance plans, Amy Klobuchar’s healthcare plan wants to remove the ban preventing Medicare from negotiating prices for prescription drugs. Also, if drugs (insulin, epinephrine) could be imported from other countries, costs could be kept low so they were available to more families.
Pharmaceutical companies have been stopping cheaper generic drugs from entering the market. Klobuchar is already fighting to get legislation to prevent drug companies from blocking out these less costly alternatives.
The US Food and Drug Administration has also been guilty of delaying the introduction of generic drugs into the US market for their own benefit. Klobuchar plans to put a stop to this immediately.
Addiction and mental health are important hurdles for Klobuchar. She wants to unveil new preventative measures as well as expanded access to treatment that’s badly needed in the midst of the opioid crisis.