NC Health Access Coalition releases plan for affordable health coverage

Affordable Coverage for All is Possible

The NC Justice Center‘s Health Access Coalition (NCHAC) has released a plan to expand affordable health coverage to all North Carolinians, make North Carolina a national leader in controlling health costs, and fairly finance health reform.

Here’s a brief outline of the plan:

1. Cover every child and make prevention a priority. Expand successful existing public programs like NC Health Choice and allow higher-income families to buy health insurance through these public programs by paying a sliding-scale premium based on income. Families who can afford child coverage but fail to purchase it will pay a penalty.

2. Expand public coverage for lower-income parents and pregnant women. Expand Medicaid to cover lower-income parents of children currently covered by public programs.

3. Make health insurance less expensive for small businesses and their employees. Ban insurance companies from charging more to small businesses because owners, workers, or family members have pre-existing health conditions. Consolidate the small business and individual markets and enact a state-subsidized quality health plan that is truly affordable for small businesses.

4. Guarantee an affordable choice of health plans for everyone. Ban insurance companies from charging higher rates or denying coverage because of pre-existing health conditions. Invite private insurance companies to offer health plans through a newly created North Carolina Private Health Insurance Clearinghouse. Subsidize these plans to guarantee affordability. Require employers not offering standard health coverage to contribute a percentage of wages and salaries to the Insurance Clearinghouse. Enforce penalties on individuals for not purchasing health coverage when affordable options are available.

5. Control health care costs. Move the NC health care system towards preventing disease first rather than treating it last. Responsibility for prevention and healthy lifestyles should be first priority for individuals themselves, parents for their children, and our entire community. Join efforts to hold down drug costs and improve quality of care. Establish a NC Institute for Health Care Quality, Cost, and Research to evaluate expensive new treatments and technologies and make cost-saving recommendations and related public health information widely available.

6. Fairly finance reform. Guaranteeing affordable health plans for everyone will cost money. North Carolina faces special challenges in this regard, especially in its rural regions. First, the state should obtain substantial federal assistance to pay for costs associated with public child and parent health programs. Second, a cigarette tax increase of 65 cents a pack should be enacted. Finally, hospitals, health insurers, and government should all be required to contribute to health plan subsidies in proportion to expected savings anticipated when more people are covered.

 

Read NCHAC’s Guaranteed Affordable Choice – The Full Plan