Health insurance reform: Safer streets and stronger families, lower costs and a better business environment

News and Views on health insurance reform:

Health reform will help young people avoid brushes with the law: Youth crime and access to health care and mental-health treatment are intertwined, argue the police chiefs of Renton, Auburn and Burien. They make a case for reform that will help young people stay out of trouble. | Seattle Times

The big picture on health reform and cost containment: Imagine a past where, in 1970, private sector health costs had been taken fully onto the federal government’s budget with a dedicated revenue source that made them budget-neutral. If these costs had been managed as effectively as Medicare, family health insurance policies today would cost Americans roughly $7,000, most likely in higher taxes, instead of the $12,400 they actually pay today in insurance premiums. | Economic Policy Institute

Health reform = big benefits for small businesses: The current market for health insurance sticks small businesses with more expensive and more variable risk-rated premiums; offers only limited competition among insurance providers; and higher administrative costs. Workers also lose due to lower overall wages. Small wonder, then, that 59% of small-firm proprietors were in favor of including a government-run insurance option in a new national health insurance exchange (Mainstreet Alliance 2009). | Economic Policy Institute

  • Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More To Read

March 24, 2025

Remembering former Washington State House Speaker Frank Chopp

Rep. Chopp was Washington state’s longest-serving Speaker of the House

February 11, 2025

The rising cost of health care is unsustainable and out of control

We have solutions that put people over profits

January 29, 2025

Who is left out of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act?

Strengthening job protections gives all workers time they need to care for themselves and their families