By Alan King
AFRO Staff Writer

(October 10, 2008) -- With more than 7 million African Americans currently uninsured, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday he would “subsidize” Americans who cannot afford health insurance.

“Nobody in America should be wanting for healthcare,” he told more than 50 members of the Black Press who participated in a teleconference to discuss how an Obama administration would combat disparities in healthcare facing the African American community.

Obama noted that the average health insurance premium increased by 100 percent and the average deductible has gone up 30 percent this year, while African Americans – who suffer from higher rates of chronic illness, and have a cancer death rate three times higher than that of Whites – continue to receive lower quality healthcare than other Americans.

To fix these inconsistencies, the Democratic presidential nominee said he plans to invest in electronic health records, chronic care management and prevention to lower premiums as much as $2,500 a year for Americans who already have health insurance.

“If you don’t have health insurance, then you’ll be able to buy into the healthcare plan – or a similar plan – like the one that I have as a member of Congress,” Obama said. “If you can’t afford it, we’ll subsidize you.”

With the plan’s net cost at about $65 billion, the Illinois senator said he would fund it by rolling back George Bush’s tax cuts that benefited wealthy Americans.
According to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice – a nonpartisan research and advocacy group for fair taxation at federal and local levels – Bush’s program reduced taxes on the rich by 15 percent, while most Americans saw a reduction of only 5 percent.

In addition to individual Americans, Obama’s plan would also provide a 50 percent credit to nonprofit organizations and small businesses that can’t afford to offer healthcare to their employees.

“So, if it cost $10,000 per person, then your tax credit will defray $5,000 below cost,” Obama said. “Now, there are going to be some businesses that still can’t afford to do so because their margins are too low. In those situations, we’re going to have the employees be able to join the federal healthcare plan – so it will be a group plan – and will be cheaper for them.”

He added, “Those who still can’t afford it, we’ll give subsidies to so that they can afford it. But I think it’s very important for us to make sure that we are covering everybody, not just some.”

Obama’s remarks came two days after the Art Voice, a newsweekly based in Buffalo, N.Y., predicted the impact of each presidential candidate’s plan on the U.S. healthcare system.

An Obama victory, Art Voice said, means a very sharp shift in financing to extend coverage while also bringing U.S. healthcare expenditures more in line with those of other industrialized countries. Obama’s policy would require the government to pick up more of the cost from the state and local levels.
In contrast, said Art Voice, a John McCain (R-Ariz.) victory would “radically” reduce the federal commitment to Medicaid and Medicare. This would allow the government to off-load the cost of mandated programs to the state and local levels.

“…it’s very important for us to make sure that we are covering everybody, not just some.”

“Senator McCain has a plan that will actually make it worse for a lot of working families. He said he’s going to give those people a $5,000 tax credit. What he doesn’t say is that he’s going to tax healthcare benefits for the first time in history,” Obama said. “Even the Chamber of Commerce, which is an organization that tends to back a Republican candidate, said that this could lead to the unraveling of the employer-based system and would also strip away a lot of the protections that states currently put in place to deal with the abuses by the insurance companies.”

Obama concluded that the issue of healthcare is just one reason why the November election is critical.  “We have been long overdue in creating a healthcare system that works for all Americans,” Obama said. “This is our opportunity and we need to take advantage of it.”