An idea whose time has come?
From Digging In the Right Place by David Sirota.
In a move making health care lobbyists quiver, Washington state Sen. Karen Keiser (D), chairwoman of her legislature’s powerful health committee, this week introduced the nation’s most far-reaching universal health care proposal. Her legislation is the American West’s version of a parallel Wisconsin initiative, and the replication suggests this model may begin building the universal health care system our country wants.
The plan is simple: Employers and employees pay a modest payroll tax in exchange for full medical benefits, with no premiums. Patients never lose coverage and pick the doctors they prefer. And for the spendthrifts, here’s the best part: According to an analysis of the Wisconsin proposal by the nonpartisan Lewin Group, the plan would save middle-class families an annual average of $750 on their existing health care bills. In all, the state would save almost $14 billion over the next decade.
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