Looking for help trying to convince an undecided voter (health care info)

[pmbryant]

While phone banking tonight for the Kerry campaign here in Texas, I talked to someone who claimed to be undecided. She said she was originally from Britain and was very displeased with its health care system. She said that she couldn't vote for Kerry if he was proposing a government-run system. Of course, I then told her that that is not what Kerry is proposing, and tried to remember Kerry's comments on this from the debates as best I could. I also got her email address so that I could send her more detailed information on his health care proposals.

So now I'm putting together that email. Obviously, JohnKerry.com is a prime source of material. But does anyone know of a good, non-partisan site that debunks the "Kerry is proposing a government-run health care system" talking point.

Including such a site in my email would probably make it much more convincing.

Thanks,
Peter

[kostya]

1. It's not government run in the sense that it's like a gov't HMO

It just using the size of the federal government to create a risk pool, just like a large corporation would do to offer insurance to its employees at a rate that is less than they'd pay individually. Except the government is a lot larger so would presumably have more leverage on price. It's not mandatory in any way, just another (affordable) choice. Very much unlike the socialized medicine system your callee is used to in GB.

- K

[yardwork]

2. Go to johnkerry.com and look up the health care plan

As I recall, Kerry is proposing tax breaks of up to $1,000 per person (or something like that) so that people with no insurance can afford to buy their own health insurance. He's not suggesting that the government offer health insurance and certainly not suggesting that the U.S. government take over the health care system.

Under Kerry's proposal, Americans would have a little more money to use in buying private health insurance of their choice.

Personally, I feel that Kerry's plan does not go nearly far enough. I wish he were proposing universal health care. Oh well, another day, another battle.

[legally blonde]

3. check this out

www.cmwf.org
The Commonwealth Fund--it has a good summary of the health care proposals of Kerry and Bush. It also gives a great side-by-side comparison of the plans.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

[kostya]

5. Good link to health plan comparisons, here are excerpted tables

[pmbryant]

6. Very interesting site.

Thanks for that link.

--Peter

[sangh0]

4. johkerry.com is the best source

but as a quick summary, you might want to inform her that Kerry's plan does not set up any new programs and is completely voluntary. Kerry is going to offer subsidies and access to various groups. Some examples:

1) Kerry will pay for a large portion of "catastrophic illnesses" defined as those whose treatment costs above a certain amount. Right now, I think the number is around 25K/yr. Because most of those costs will be born by the govt, the employer's health care costs will go down, leading to a decrease in the premiums that both the employer AND the employee have to pay.

2) Kerry will allow small businesses to band together and buy health insurance as a large group, putting them in a better position to negotiate lower premiums.

3) Kerry will cover EVERY child under Medicare. It will be paid for by rolling back the bush* tax cuts on those making over $200K/yr

I may have gotten a detail or two wrong, so you should check with Kerry's website, but I think the basic jist of this is the way you should present this. It's a package of subsidies and access. No new programs and EVERYTHING is voluntary. If you don't want to take the govt's money, you don't have to.

[pmbryant]

7. Thanks for the summary

I'm definitely going to point her to johnkerry.com.

--Peter