Political Quotes

“There are some employers that, though they offer health insurance, the company may only offer one plan, and it may not fit the needs of all of the employees. It may be good for some but, again, not everyone. Under this plan, there would be a variety of plans to choose from: again, a very basic plan with a small premium, a small copay, up to the more comprehensive-type programs, and several options in between. And it's basically bringing everyone into one insurance pool. So you're bringing a younger, healthier population into the program; you're spreading risk, which leads to more stable costs; and we talked about the fact that the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under last year only had a 1.8 percent increase in its health care plans on average and the private sector had about a 6.1 percent increase. And I think that's even modest. So, again, a good model here. I'm glad that you raised the issue of the commission because it is important to look at the reasons for the rising costs of health care and then look at what options we can employ to achieve cost containment and bring stability to the system.”