Affordable and Accessible Health Care
Putting the Care back into Healthcare! A key element of a secure society is helping individuals and families in a changing world. Individuals and families need easy and affordable access to health care. In 2008, total health care spending surpassed $2 trillion. Health care costs in our nation continue to rise because of lack of consumer involvement in decisions that affect their health needs. At present, our health care system is based in a mentality that services and products that cost more yield better outcomes. In addition, the finance structure is set up so that people pay for quantity of care, rather than quality. What is needed to put downward pressure on health care costs are policies that put consumers the drivers seat. To this end, Karla Romero believes all Americans should be empowered with all pertinent information needed to access to affordable, quality health care. As a member of Congress she will work to address the root causes of rising health care costs, rather than shifting the costs to taxpayers or forcing Americans into an inflexible, one-size-fits-all bureaucratic system.
Repealing Government Mandated Health Care
Promoting Affordable Health Care for Every American
To address the root causes of high health care costs and help provide affordable health care to American families, Karla Romero will:
Controlling Rising Health Care Costs
Karla Romero will reduce health care costs by improving the use of technology in the provision of health care by:
Enhancing Long-Term Care Insurance
As Americans continue living longer, long-term care has become an issue of increasing importance. Karla Romero recognizes that the growing need for long-term care calls for planning both by individuals and by Government. In this area, heroic sacrifices are being made by millions of families who care for their mothers and fathers as their parents cared for them. Karla Romero will recognize and reward individual responsibility and help alleviate the financial burden of taking care of an elderly parent at home in the following ways:
Repealing Government Mandated Health Care
- The Affordable Care Act is the most egregious pieces of Federal legislation since 1965. The law cuts Medicare by $500 billion for 46 million seniors that rely on that program. At the same time, the Affordable Care Act raises prices throughout the health care market by taxing medical device manufactures, who then pass the cost on to patients. The Affordable Care Act has forced health insurance companies to raise their premiums by 10 percent, making health care even more unaffordable. As a member of Congress, Karla will fight to repeal this costly and destructive law saving taxpayers $1 trillion.
Promoting Affordable Health Care for Every American
To address the root causes of high health care costs and help provide affordable health care to American families, Karla Romero will:
- Expand Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). As a member of Congress Karla Romero will propose to strengthen consumer driven health care by expanding HSAs. Specifically, Karla will propose increasing HSA contribution limits for individuals to $8,000 and $16,000 for families, eliminating the requirement that HSA holders purchase health insurance, and allowing tax-free HSA withdrawals for health insurance premiums as well as health care. These changes would give workers full ownership and control over their health care dollars, and would vastly expand choice and competition in health care markets. With contribution limits of $8,000 for singles and $16,000 for families, 97 percent of workers would be able to receive the full value of their current health benefits as a cash deposit into their HSAs. As with 401(k)s, workers could decide how much to deposit and could vary their contributions from year to year.
- Advocate for a Tax Credit to Purchase Health Insurance. Karla Romero will propose a tax credit for low-income families and individuals to purchase health insurance. Families will receive up to $2,000 for their premiums and $1,000 cash to put in their HSAs. Individuals will receive up to $700 for their premiums and $300 for their HSAs.
- Provide an Above-the-Line Deduction for Health Insurance Premiums. Karla Romero will propose to permit individuals who purchase low-premium, high-deductible insurances policies to deduct the premiums they pay for these policies. It will reduce the net cost of these policies and encourage the use of HSAs for saving for health care needs and making wise, cost-effective health care choices.
- Allow Shopping for Health Coverage Across State Lines. Today it's easy to use the Internet or toll-free numbers to shop for products. But different rules apply to health insurance. Consumers can only purchase health insurance in the state in which they live, and can't shop around for a better deal in another state. Karla Romero proposes giving people the freedom to shop across state lines to find the best rates for their health coverage.
- Promote a Health Savings Account Tax Credit to Help Small Business Employees. Karla Romero will propose a tax credit for HSA contributions to help individuals and families who work for small businesses fund their HSAs. Small businesses and their employees who set up an HSA will get a tax rebate for contributions to the HSA of up to $500 per worker with family coverage and $200 per worker with individual coverage.
- Allow Small Businesses to Establish Association Health Plans (AHPs). While large businesses can use their purchasing power to get better deals from insurance companies, smaller firms often find that coverage is priced beyond their reach. To give small employers and their workers more purchasing power, Karla Romero proposes permitting small businesses to band together and negotiate on behalf of their employees and their families.
- Expand Association Health Plans. Karla Romero supports associated health plan expansion so that people who purchase coverage on their own can buy health insurance from a group other than an employer. This would allow civic and charitable groups, churches, and other types of organizations to offer health insurance to their members.
Controlling Rising Health Care Costs
Karla Romero will reduce health care costs by improving the use of technology in the provision of health care by:
- Promoting Healthy Life-Styles. As a member of Congress, Karla Romero will propose allowing health insurance companies that provide premium rebates of up to fifty percent to customers that demonstrate healthy behavior to deduct the full cost of all premium rebates offered to their customers. Just as life-insurance and auto-insurance companies have incentives in place to encourage responsible behavior, so we must work with health insurers to set up similar incentives.
- Promoting Health Information Technology (IT).) Karla Romero will advocate undertaking a new initiative to make electronic health records universally available within the next decade. This new initiative will improve health care quality, reduce its cost, and improve access to affordable care by applying to health care the same information technology that has transformed so many other industries. Health IT will also help eliminate medical mistakes, leading to increased quality and safety for patients.
Enhancing Long-Term Care Insurance
As Americans continue living longer, long-term care has become an issue of increasing importance. Karla Romero recognizes that the growing need for long-term care calls for planning both by individuals and by Government. In this area, heroic sacrifices are being made by millions of families who care for their mothers and fathers as their parents cared for them. Karla Romero will recognize and reward individual responsibility and help alleviate the financial burden of taking care of an elderly parent at home in the following ways:
- Tax Deduction for Long-Term Care - Karla Romero proposes a new above-the-line tax deduction that individuals could claim for long-term care insurance premiums.
- Additional Tax Exemption for Home Caregivers of Family Members - Karla Romero proposes that individuals caring for an ill family member at home, such as an adult taking care of an elderly parent, should be able to claim the family member as an additional personal exemption on their tax return.
