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Healthcare
Affordable Healthcare for All
The Institute for SocioEconomic Studies believes that healthcare, like other necessities of life (including food,
shelter, and education), should be available to all citizens. Americans should be able to expect treatment of serious illness and injury, and protection from the financial devastation which may result, regardless of
their circumstances.
The Institute has been conducting research on a universal solution using the Department of Health and Human Services
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which is the premiere national database on health care use and costs. Building on the insights gained from this research, we are developing a plan to provide all Americans with
comprehensive coverage of major health expenses.
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Any sound health care system must be affordable to individual citizens, and to the nation as a whole.
The plan ISES is developing would be affordable to America because it would require no new expenditures. Instead, it
would use funds rolled over from existing healthcare spending sources. To reduce waste, incentives would be provided for each person to pay for small or routine expenses directly, in accordance with how he or she
values particular healthcare services. The plan would minimize administrative waste by minimizing administration.
Our plan will also be affordable to individuals. We would provide an annual refundable tax credit, assuring that no
one starts with a health care budget of zero. Everyone will have the means to be a participant. Our plan will encourage individuals to accumulate personal savings to cover routine health care needs. At the same
time, we would protect individuals from the financial devastation of catastrophic illness. The plan would cover virtually all medical expenses beyond the level at which they would become an inordinate burden. Since
a given dollar cost weighs differently on everyone, under the ISES plan, the limit of the individual's financial responsibility varies by income.
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We believe the best way to promote high quality, affordable healthcare is to empower people to act as medical
consumers, able to purchase healthcare services directly wherever possible. To this end, the plan under development at ISES would minimize the role of third-party payers, freeing individuals and their doctors to
concentrate on medical care that best suits their individual needs. We seek to retain the best features of traditional indemnity insurance - namely, freedom of choice and protection against the potentially
devastating financial costs of catastrophic illness - while incorporating incentives for individuals to lead healthful lives and save for the costs of their own medical care.
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