No one should be without health care. We are the only modern industrial country without a national health plan covering everyone. We need to join the rest of the modern world and guarantee health care for every resident of this country. Healthcare is a right.
No one should be without health care. We are the only modern industrial country without a national health plan covering everyone. We need to join the rest of the modern world and guarantee health care for every resident of this country. Healthcare is a right.
We need to restructure our healthcare systems
- Eliminate for-profit health care
- Government financing - no insurance companies and their private profits.
- No co-payments or deductibles.
- Free choice of licensed health care providers.
- Public accountability with democratically set policies and priorities.
- Medical decisions made by patients and their health care providers.
- Increase funding for medical research.
- Job training for the current health insurance workers who may lose their insurance industry jobs..
Why a "Single Payer" Health Care Plan is the Best Plan
- Everyone would have health care insurance.
- Workers health care would not depend upon their job - or a family member's job.
- Doctors would not be constantly scrutinized by insurance company accountants.
- Less overhead expenses. Medicare overhead is 3% while private insurance runs 15-25%
- It could save approximately $150 billion on paperwork alone, according to Physicians for a National Health Plan.
- Currently over 25% of our health care money goes to marketing, billing, reviews, insurance company profits, etc.
- Most businesses would save money (those paying for employee health care insurance).
- Massive savings and improved prevention services would easily cover expected increased health care usage.
- It is not socialized medicine, it is socialized financing of health care.
Medications and Drugs - No private profit on our essential drugs
- Price controls on all essential medications.
- Full public funding, ownership, and control of all drug research, patents and manufacturing.
- Greatly increased funding for drug research, especially so-called "orphan" drugs.
Other Medical Issues
- More funding and attention for disease prevention and general public health measures.
- Measures to decrease defensive medicine practiced due to threat of lawsuits.
- More attention to preventing epidemics of communicable diseases such as HIV.
- More research into non-standard practices.
- More funding for tobacco prevention programs and smoking cessation programs. Regulate tobacco products.
- Unrestricted access to the full range of contraceptive services and pregnancy termination for all women.
- Remove religious interference from health care
- Medical standards of care should be determined by science; not by lawyers, politicians, or churches.
The Health Care Plank of the Peace and Freedom Party:
We believe that access to quality medical and dental care is a basic human right. We stand for a democratically-controlled, publicly-funded health care system. We support health practices that emphasize education, prevention and nutrition and minimize dependence on drugs, surgery and radiation.
We demand:
- Free, high-quality health care for everyone.
- Free immunization and other prevention programs.
- No private patents on drugs developed through publicly-funded research.
- Price controls on drugs and medical technology.
- More medical facilities to provide services and education in low-income neighborhoods and rural areas.
- More substance abuse treatment and needle-exchange programs.
- More research into diseases and disorders caused by man-made substances.
- More community health facilities.
- Support non-standard proven methods.
- Special attention to preventing epidemics of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
- Convenient provision of safe, free birth control information and materials to men and women of any age.
- Free abortion on demand.
- Quality prenatal care.
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