Joe Biden on Health Care

Biden proposes creating a universal comprehensive health care program, which he has dubbed "CARE." The acronym envelops four key steps to achieve universal coverage: Cover all children, better access for adults, reinsurance for catastrophic illness (help cover people with health costs greater than $50,000), and encourage prevention and modernization. Biden also encourages insurance reform to make it more affordable and available for everyone, including people with pre-existing conditions or high-risk factors for certain diseases. He wants to lower the age at which people can buy into Medicare to 55. His plan would reportedly cost between $80 billion and $100 billion each year, to be paid for by targeted tax rollbacks and plugging some tax loopholes.

Health Insurance: Private/Government

• Develop a universal comprehensive health care program for every American using both federal and private, free-market approaches.
• Include business, insurance companies, the health care industry, the American Medical Association, unions, and the government in negotiating a comprehensive plan within 90 days of taking office.
• Extend the coverage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to include children to at least age 21; cover children whose families are at least at 300% of the federal poverty level ($61,950 for a family of four).
• Enable all families to participate in SCHIP through a sliding-scale insurance premium program and co-payments based on their income.
• Eliminate SCHIP co-payments for preventive dental checkups, physicals, vision and hearing screenings, and vaccinations.
• Mandate uniform billing/claims forms and provide federal funding to states to accomplish that.
• Allow uninsured to buy in to a program similar to what member of Congress and federal workers have (FEHBP) -- paying on a sliding scale based on income. Small businesses would share costs with the government.
• Provide federal funding (a reinsurance pool) that would cover 75% of catastrophic health costs for employees and their family members, retirees, insurers, and associations. Allow approved small businesses to participate in the pool. A catastrophic health problem would qualify if it cost more than $50,000 to treat.
• Permit insurance companies to access federal funding if they agree not to turn away applicants because of pre-existing conditions.
• Provide grants to states to develop information technology systems (electronic record keeping) for health care.

Medical Costs

• Biden puts a strong emphasis on prevention of disease and managing chronic conditions.
• Identify the best ways to manage chronic diseases by evaluating technology, devices, and medical protocols through the establishment of a new "Comparative Effectiveness Panel."
• Invest at least $1 billion annually in technology to improve communications and care quality, as well as to guard against duplication of services.

Health Savings Accounts

• Biden opposes health savings accounts.

Drugs: Costs/Importation

• Use the federal government's bulk purchasing power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs for the Medicare Part D program. The Veterans Administration currently does this, but current Medicare law prohibits government negotiation with pharmaceutical companies.
• Close the gap in Medicare benefits, the so-called "doughnut hole," which occurs when a Medicare recipient hits $2,400 in coverage, and then must pay for his or her drugs out-of-pocket until costs reach $5,451.