It’s time to guarantee health care for all, get costs under control and offer Americans the choice between a good public insurance plan, like Medicare, and private insurance plans that can meet basic standards of benefits and cost. With this guaranteed affordable choice approach, if you have insurance you like, you can keep it. But if you need something better—or if you lose your job—you have other options.

The bold health care proposal authored by Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker, “Health Care For America,” has reshaped the health care debate. [1] Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama modeled their health care plans on Hacker’s plan, published by the Economic Policy Institute.

All Americans would have a choice between private insurance plans and a public insurance plan. Quality standards would ensure that public and private plans compete on a level playing field—no more profits from “cherry picking” the young and healthy while turning away those with pre-existing conditions. We’ll be able to set and enforce the rules to make sure insurance companies put our health before their profits, and we’re not left at the mercy of the same private insurance companies that got us into this mess.

Employers would have to either provide quality coverage or chip in a modest amount to fund the public plan. Low-income families would receive subsidies to ensure everyone could afford coverage. Huge savings would come from slashing administrative costs, emphasizing preventative care, reducing emergency room visits and
moving to electronic medical records.

An independent analysis from the nationally respected, nonpartisan consulting firm The Lewin Group found that “Health Care For America” would not only cover 99.6% of Americans but would also save $1 trillion in health care spending over 10 years. [2] The group concluded that an annual public investment of $49 billion would be needed to
implement “Health Care for America,” and families, businesses and state governments would immediately enjoy an equivalent $49 billion in savings.

Real health care choices guaranteeing quality health care for all at an affordable cost—that’s how we’ll finally achieve an America where quality health care is a right for all, not a privilege for a few.