To: The Rhode Island State House, The Rhode Island State Senate, and Governor Gina Raimondo
Support RI Comprehensive Health Insurance Legislation (H 5387)
I, the undersigned, support the RI Comprehensive Health Insurance Program legislation (H 5387) that would create universal access to comprehensive, affordable, quality health care through a single-payer health program in Rhode Island.
Why is this important?
I. The Problem: Our expensive, inefficient health insurance system
- Between 1991 and 2014, health care spending in RI per person rose by over 250% – rising much faster than income – greatly reducing disposable income.
- 62% of personal bankruptcies were medical cost related and of these, 78% had health insurance at the time of their bankruptcy.
- Health care is “rationed” under our current multi-payer system, despite the fact that Rhode Islanders already pay enough money to have comprehensive and universal health insurance under a single-payer system.
- The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) cannot control rising premiums, co-pays, deductibles and medical cost related bankruptcies, nor prevent private insurance companies from continuing to limit available providers and coverage.
- Fully implemented, the ACA will still leave 4% of Rhode Islanders without insurance – resulting in as many as 116 Rhode Islanders dying unnecessarily from lack of insurance each year.
II. The Solution: H. 5378 – Single Payer RI Comprehensive Health Insurance Program
- Provide comprehensive health care coverage to all Rhode Island residents.
- Improve access to health care.
- Save approximately $4000 per resident per year by 2024 and put more money into the Rhode Island economy.
- Significantly reduce administrative costs (almost $1 billion in the first year) and shift these dollars to actual provision of health care.
- Decrease provider administrative burdens and allow them to spend more time providing health care.
- Establish a funding system that is public and progressive.
- Eliminate health insurance costs and administrative obligations on Rhode Island businesses and make them more competitive and profitable (e.g., in the first year, payroll contributions to a single payer plan would be over $1.2 billion less than current private health insurance premiums).
- Contain health care costs (reduced administration and control over monopolistic pricing) and save 23% of current expenditures in the first year with larger savings in subsequent years.
- Create a significant economic stimulus for the state by attracting businesses to and keeping businesses in Rhode Island because of reduced health insurance costs.
Read the legislation: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText15/HouseText15/H5387.pdf
- Between 1991 and 2014, health care spending in RI per person rose by over 250% – rising much faster than income – greatly reducing disposable income.
- 62% of personal bankruptcies were medical cost related and of these, 78% had health insurance at the time of their bankruptcy.
- Health care is “rationed” under our current multi-payer system, despite the fact that Rhode Islanders already pay enough money to have comprehensive and universal health insurance under a single-payer system.
- The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) cannot control rising premiums, co-pays, deductibles and medical cost related bankruptcies, nor prevent private insurance companies from continuing to limit available providers and coverage.
- Fully implemented, the ACA will still leave 4% of Rhode Islanders without insurance – resulting in as many as 116 Rhode Islanders dying unnecessarily from lack of insurance each year.
II. The Solution: H. 5378 – Single Payer RI Comprehensive Health Insurance Program
- Provide comprehensive health care coverage to all Rhode Island residents.
- Improve access to health care.
- Save approximately $4000 per resident per year by 2024 and put more money into the Rhode Island economy.
- Significantly reduce administrative costs (almost $1 billion in the first year) and shift these dollars to actual provision of health care.
- Decrease provider administrative burdens and allow them to spend more time providing health care.
- Establish a funding system that is public and progressive.
- Eliminate health insurance costs and administrative obligations on Rhode Island businesses and make them more competitive and profitable (e.g., in the first year, payroll contributions to a single payer plan would be over $1.2 billion less than current private health insurance premiums).
- Contain health care costs (reduced administration and control over monopolistic pricing) and save 23% of current expenditures in the first year with larger savings in subsequent years.
- Create a significant economic stimulus for the state by attracting businesses to and keeping businesses in Rhode Island because of reduced health insurance costs.
Read the legislation: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText15/HouseText15/H5387.pdf