…This from Dennis Kucinich / GO DENNIS!

Click here to view this email in your browser Share this email: Press Release April 16, 2012 For Immediate Release Nathan.White@mail.house.gov (202)225-5871 Nearly $200 Billion in Savings if Minnesotans Demand Single-Payer Solution for Families, Businesses Constitutional Approach Cuts Costs, Provides Universal Coverage Washington D.C. (April 16, 2012) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), coauthor of H.R. 676, Medicare for All, today released the following statement highlighting a report by respected health care analytical group, The Lewin Group, showing the State of Minnesota would save $189.5 billion over ten years by providing universal, single-payer health care for all residents. "Single-payer health care is inevitable in the U.S. and the states are the first to recognize it.  Single-payer would cover all residents, reduce costs, increase the quality of care, lower costs to businesses, lower costs to families, increase worker pay, and relieve the state governments of enormous financial burdens that come with our health care system," said Kucinich. "Regardless of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, health care costs continue to rise, jeopardizing budgets and preventing people from getting the health care they need. Single-payer is the only solution that is obviously constitutional and can meet our nation's needs." The report from The Lewin Group showed that enacting a single-payer system in Minnesota would reduce health spending for the State by $4.1 billion (8.8%) in 2014. State and local governments would save an addition $35.7 million. Employers would save $1,214 per worker ("for employers offering health insurance coverage prior to the ACA"). Families would save an average $1,362 and the statewide savings would be $189.5 billion between 2014 and 2023. "Insurance companies make money by NOT providing health care," said Kucinich. "Americans are now mandated to pay massive subsidies to bail out the for-profit health insurance industry.  "One out of every three of our health care dollars goes to activities OTHER than providing care, like a massive lobbying effort to protect their profits.  Your total comes to 900 billion dollars every year.  "We have been mandating that the American people pay this much more for health care because Congress and the President have refused for decades to take on health insurance companies. This report is a wake up call for states, businesses and families struggling to deal with the rising costs of health care. Congressman Kucinich introduced an amendment to the Affordable Care Act in 2009 in the Education and Labor Committee. The amendment, passed on a bipartisan vote but stripped from the bill, would have helped states pursue single-payer if that is what their residents wanted. Fourteen studies by expert health care consulting firms have modeled the expected financial results if a state enacted a single-payer health care system to cover its residents.              State Annual Single-payer Savings Year New Mexico1 $151,800,000 1994 Delaware2 $229,000,000 1995 Minnesota1 $718,000,000 1995 Massachusetts3 $1,800,000,000 - $3,600,000,000 1998 Maryland1 $345,000,000 2000 Vermont1 $118,000,000 2001 California1 $7,500,000,000 2002 Maine4 $0 2002 Rhode Island5 $270,000,000 2002 Missouri6 $1,700,000,000 2003 Georgia1 $716,000,000 2004 California1 $8,000,000,000 2005 Colorado1 $1,400,000,000 2007 Kansas1 $869,000,000 2007 Minnesota1 $19,000,000,000 2012             1.         Lewin Group 2.         Solutions for Progress 3.         Lewin Group, Solutions for Progress/Boston University School of Public Health 4.         Mathemetica Policy 5.         Solutions for Progress/Boston University School of Public Health 6.         Missouri Foundation for Health Fourteen of the fifteen studies showed very significant savings in health care costs while at the same time insuring everyone. Maine was the exception, showing no increase/decrease in state health spending under single-payer but providing health care to an additional 150,000 residents.   ### Lakewood Office | 14400 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107 | Phone (216) 228-8850 | Fax (216) 228-6465 Parmatown Mall | 7904 Day Drive, Parma, Ohio 44129 | Phone (440) 845-2707 | Fax (440) 845-2743 Washington Office | 2445 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515 | Phone (202) 225-5871 | Fax (202) 225-5745

CONTACT US

Click Here to view this email in your browser