Rob Andrews: “In my State of New Jersey, an individual buying family health insurance would pay in the neighborhood of $10,000 a year.…”

“In my State of New Jersey, an individual buying family health insurance would pay in the neighborhood of $10,000 a year. But the price that would be offered through the group plan would be considerably less, probably $6,500 to $7,000 a year picked up by the employer. So let us say the employer gives the employee a $6,500 voucher toward the purchase of health insurance. The choice that my constituents would face under this Senate bill that my friend talks about would be to either have the right to hold the HMO accountable and pay $3,500 for that privilege, which the constituent clearly would not have, or not have the right to hold them accountable. Now, that is like saying to someone that we are going to give everyone in America the right to buy a Mercedes Benz for $75,000. Nice right to have in theory, but if a person does not have the money to afford it, they cannot do it.”