Bill Richardson on Health Care

The Richardson health plan offers Americans universal care -- expanding coverage to those without it while allowing people to keep the health care plan they have if satisfied. It also calls for investment in preventive care, including cutting back on junk food in schools, banning smoking in the workplace, and launching a national obesity prevention effort. Richardson calls for chronic disease management to cut costs. His plan places an emphasis on cutting costs by transparency, enabling comparisons of prices for care as well as its quality. By maximizing efficiencies in health care administration and investing in prevention, Richardson says his plan could save Americans $110 billion a year, which could then be used to finance heath care for all.

Health Insurance: Private/Government

• Provide health care coverage for all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
• Provide a sliding-scale tax credit for individuals who need assistance in buying coverage.
• Extend immediate relief for high interest rates on credit card debt for medical costs.
• Invest in preventive care and encourage chronic disease management, as well as health literacy, to encourage widespread understanding of basic health care.
• Require insurance companies to spend at least 85% of their revenue on direct health care and the remainder on administration.
• Allow Americans to keep their current coverage, if desired.
• Require employers to "do their fair share" to help with workers' coverage.
• Provide a "Heroes Health Card," offering veterans care in their own communities if they can't get to Veterans Administration facilities.
• Allow young adults up to age 25 to participate in existing family coverage.
• Establish a set of proven preventive services to be used by all health plans.

Medical Costs

• Provide transparency of care to enable comparisons on price and quality of health care.
• Ensure evidence-based care and research on effectiveness.
• Emphasize prevention.
• Minimize bureaucracy.

Health Savings Accounts

• Currently not addressed in his platform.

Drugs: Costs/Importation

• Promote the use of generic drugs.
• Negotiate prescription drug prices through Medicare and allow seniors to buy their prescription drugs through the program. Current Medicare law prohibits government negotiation with pharmaceutical companies.
• Allow importation of safe, affordable prescription medications from Canada and other industrialized nations.