Bill Text: HI SCR154 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Urges Congress to establish a National Health Board.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-10 - (S) Referred to HTH/TIA. [SCR154 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SCR154-Introduced.html

---

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	154
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging the establishment of a national health board to ensure quality healthcare for all residents of the United States.

 

 

     WHEREAS, every American deserves access to affordable quality health care; and

 

     WHEREAS, the cost of health insurance is now rising at a rate that is making the procurement of such insurance unaffordable; and

 

     WHEREAS, competition among private health insurance plans has not made health care more affordable or more accessible to Americans but, in fact, has had the opposite effect; and

 

     WHEREAS, pressure to hold down health care costs and maximize profits has led to strong financial incentives for private health plans to use underwriting strategies to avoid or limit covering the sick; and

 

     WHEREAS, for physicians and other health care providers, such as hospitals, competition among private health insurance plans has resulted in reduced fees, increased managed care paperwork and bureaucratic requirements, increased administrative costs, and increased obstacles to the payment of claims; and

 

     WHEREAS, the private practice of medicine is now being threatened by the increasing power of health plans to set fees and force physicians to accept onerous and unfunded managed care policies; and

 

     WHEREAS, comparisons with other countries' health care systems and economic analyses have repeatedly shown that a single-payer health care financing system with universal coverage of all residents would cost less and provide better overall care than any proposal involving competing private health insurance plans; and

 

     WHEREAS, if all Americans were covered by a single-payer health plan it would eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions, cost-shifting, disputes over who is responsible for paying for care, and the ties between employment and healthcare coverage; and

 

WHEREAS, the removal of health care costs from litigation would result in large savings in medical malpractice, workers' compensation, and automobile insurance costs; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the House of Representatives concurring, that Congress is urged to enact legislation to establish a single-payer health care financing system for the United States; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress and the Federal Executive Branch is urged to create a National Health Board, held accountable to act on behalf of the public good and insulated from special interest influences; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Board shall have expertise in health economics and representation from the actual stakeholders in health care including physicians, hospitals, and other providers of health care and the public; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Health Board shall be granted authority over the establishment of a provider fee structure, allocation of government funding for health care education and training, medical research, public health programs, scope of practice issues, and quality improvement programs; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Health Board shall have substantial authority over the public financing of the single-payer health care system, including health care taxes, to ensure that the funding of the system continues to reflect the realistic costs of providing quality health care, to ensure that public health care funds are spent in a cost-effective manner, and to ensure maintenance of quality health care for the residents of the United States in perpetuity; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Majority leader of the U.S. Senate, and Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Urges Congress to establish a National Health Board.