Legislative commission unanimously agrees to seek universal, affordable, accessible, sustainable health care system.
Mason City – Today the members of the bipartisan “Affordable Health Care Plans for Small Businesses & Families Commission,” agreed to a set of eight principles to guide their work. The group of legislators, medical providers, small business and insurance representatives, and consumers agreed that Iowa’s goal should be a health care system that is universal, affordable, accessible, and sustainable.
“These principles will shape our deliberations as we work on a final product to present to the legislature,” said commission co-chair Senator Jack Hatch of Des Moines.
“Together, we are working to create a new, better, more cost-efficient way to provide health care to all Iowans, including the 250,000 Iowans not covered today,” said commission co-chair Representative Ro Foege of Mount Vernon.
The principles unanimously agreed to today at the commission’s Mason City meeting are:
1: Coverage and care should be universal or near universal.
2: Coverage should be affordable and take into account all health care costs.
3: Everyone should have a medical home.
4: Health care should be accessible.
5: Financing should be a shared responsibility.
6: Reforms should drive quality improvements and contain costs.
7: Reforms should do no harm.
8: Reforms must be sustainable and doable.
Additional information about the commission can be found at the Iowa Legislature’s web site, www.legis.state.ia.us. It is also possible at that web site for Iowans to offer their own suggestions for improvements and to read the suggestions made by other Iowans.
