Steve Kagen: “impossible costs for health care are a major concern for everyone, and the President should be commended for addressing…”

“impossible costs for health care are a major concern for everyone, and the President should be commended for addressing this difficult crisis. But his proposal is really a tax hike for people who cannot afford it: businesses and working families. We must establish an open and transparent medical marketplace, and it is really not that difficult to do. We need to, one, openly disclose all prices in health care everywhere; two, give every citizen the same discount; and three, establish a single risk pool, 300 million strong, across the country to leverage down prices and costs for all of us. In other words, if you are a citizen, you are in. It is past time that the Congress should establish a single basic Federal standard health insurance policy that every insurance company must offer to each and every one of us. In doing so, we will be able to compare insurance companies based on the quality of their service and their price. The President means well, but you cannot use tax hikes to lower health care costs.”