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Pete Stark on Universal Health Care
Pete Stark believes strongly that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care coverage. It is a disgrace that more than 47 million people in our country continue to lack health insurance coverage. Tragically, that number is growing. As the wealthiest nation in the world, this should not be the case. Compared to other countries, we spend the most per person, but our key health indicators rank among the lowest in the world. In fact, more than 30 percent of our total spending is due to high administrative costs, profit and overhead. We can and should provide universal health coverage for everyone in America – children, workers, early retirees, families, and others.
In Pete’s view, this goal is best achieved by building on Medicare. Medicare is an effective, dependable, cost-efficient program and it is an extremely popular program among its beneficiaries. Pete has introduced legislation to provide a health insurance safety net for all of America’s children by guaranteeing them coverage through MediKids, a health insurance program for children modeled on Medicare. In addition, Pete has introduced legislation to allow people aged 55-64 to buy into Medicare for their health insurance. Either of those proposals would be a real improvement on the status quo, but we could go even further and open Medicare up to everyone. That’s his ultimate solution. And, he’s introduced the AmeriCare Act in the 110th Congress to do just that.
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