Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate trying to unseat Harry Reid, said that there is nothing wrong with the U.S. health care system. Speaking with reporter Marco Villarreal from KTNV Action News, Angle said that the U.S. has "the best healthcare system in the world." She went on to say that “our doctors are the best."
Wants the federal health care reform law repealed
On her official website, the candidate proposes the following solutions for health care.
She would repeal and replace ObamaCare. ObamaCare has become a pet name for the Affordable Care Act passed in March, 2010.
Angle lists replacement of ObamaCare as a necessary solution but does not offer any concrete ideas for a replacement plan. Her recent interview may explain why. She does not think there was anything wrong with the system as it existed in the U.S. prior to March 2010.
She would eliminate coverage mandates. Coverage mandates are a part of the Affordable Care Act so if it is repealed the federal mandatory coverage requirement would go away. Two states, Massachusetts and Hawaii, have state mandated coverage.
She would expand client pools. There is no explanation of what that means. Under the Affordable Care Act, temporary high risk pools are being created for individuals who cannot get health insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions. I doubt that is what the candidate means, but there is no further explanation on record.
She advocates tort reform. In this area the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agrees with her. The CBO had said that more than $50 billion dollars could be saved over the next 10 years if tort reform could lower medical malpractice insurance.
In addition to saving doctors the high cost of malpractice insurance, the CBO also opines that without the threat of a malpractice case, health care costs would go down because doctors would not feel obliged to order unnecessary tests.
There was some early discussion about including tort reform in the healthcare bill. But nothing significant ever made it out of committee and was not even debated.
She advocates allowing citizens to purchase insurance across state lines. HR 2355 which would have allowed this was proposed in Congress in 2005-2006. The bill never passed.
Objections to the bill involve complex state's rights issues. Each state has its own legislature which makes its own rules and regulations governing health insurance. The measure was opposed by State Insurance Commissioners.
Susan Cogswell, then Insurance Commissioner in Connecticut , said that HR 2355 would erode the ability of a state to regulate the insurance industry and hurt consumers who relied on state ptotection.
Angle also states on her website that she would “create tax credited health savings accounts.” We already have Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in this country which are both tax deductible and generate tax deferred interest.
What additional concepts she would add to the HSA model is unclear. HSAs continue to exist with few changes under the Affordable Care Act.
Is the real issue access?
The reporter asked Ms. Angle if it wasn’t access to health insurance that was the real issue? Ms. Angle responded that “the access is not what is being denied. It is the cost that has become prohibitive…”
But clearly access is being denied. At least it is for the Nevada citizens who cannot purchase individual health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. According to the Great Basin Primary Care Association, Nevada will have between 605,000 to 614,000 uninsured citizens by 2010 A great many of those cannot access health insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions.
View the entire Angle interview by clicking here
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Comments
I have diabetes. I am self employed and it has been virtually impossible to get health insurance for myself. How can this woman say that access is not a problem. Maybe it's not a problem for people who work for large companies, but it certainly is for me
It's time for Harry Reid to retire.
Sharron Angle has common sense which is why Harry needs to step down, with all his years as a Senator, what does he have to show for all that time?
Nevada highest unemployment, highest in foreclosures, and so on.
It's time for someone who takes accountability seriously.
Vote Sharron Angle!
Nice lady, not that bright.
There is a difference between healthcare insurance and having great docs in the US.
The same dopey argument where people think weather and climate are the same thing.
Critical thinking requires the ability to differentiate small differences. Was it an iceberg that sank the Titantic or Mrs Goldberg? She missed a softball question.
Anybody out there agree with her? Nothing is wrong?
regards
jim med mal claims guy since 1985
What an uninformed candidate! She says there is nothing wrong with the U.S. health care system -- that's the system that according to the Institute of Medicine has 100,000 deaths a year from malpractice. Other reputable estimates are twice that. But she wants tort reform to eliminate malpractice cases. But there were only 11,021 malpractice payments in 2009 for all types of malpractice, not just malpractice that results in death. So what's the real problem? Too much malpractice, or lack of tort reform?
She says tort reform would save money. All it would do is shift even more of the costs of malpractice away from the malpractice insurance companies to the victims, their health insurers, and the tax payers.
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