Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

I believe that we spend far too much time and money on health insurance, when we should be focused on heath care. We all know our healthcare costs continue to rise dramatically. We typically see that in increased insurance costs and co-pays. Even though we are paying more, salaries for doctors have gone down, numbers of people working in critical medical roles have declined, and quality of care is declining as well - shorter care stays, more infections and other problems resulting from getting care, not from the original reason for being there (being sick).

So we are paying more, and getting less, doctors are also getting less, but insurance companies get more. And they are not adding to our health care in any way. (Our Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield just announced record revenues and profits for the past year).

I believe that it's time for a different kind of system, something that takes the profit out of health care and puts people back in. I am in favor of a single payer system such as medicare, which costs far less than non-medicare & medicaid insurance costs now, and provides consistent, reliable care for everyone enrolled.

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