Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
This page was last updated on June 1, 2007. For the most up-to-date information regarding Sen. Clinton’s health policy proposals, visit www.hillaryclinton.com/.
Hillary Clinton's Healthcare Reform Proposal
Hillary Clinton announced a 7-step strategy to control health care costs and create a framework to provide affordable, quality coverage to all Americans. Senator Clinton's strategy would:
- Create a Groundbreaking National Prevention Initiative to Reduce the Incidence of Such Diseases as Diabetes and Cancer that Impose Huge Human and Financial Costs
- Institute a New "Paperless" Health Information Technology System
- Transform Care of Today's Chronically Ill Population to Improve Outcomes and Decrease Costs
- End Insurance Discrimination to Help Reduce Administrative Costs
- Create an Independent "Best Practices" Institute to Empower Consumers, Providers and Health Plans to Make the Right Care Choices
- Implement Smart Purchasing Initiatives to Constrain Excess Prescription Drug and Managed Care Expenditures
- Put in Place Common-Sense Medical Malpractice Reforms
Expanding Health Care for Children
The following summary was derived from information released by the office of Senator Hillary Clinton:
Hillary Clinton introduced the Children's Health First Act on February 14, 2007 with Rep. John Dingell. The intention of the act is to make quality, affordable health care coverage available to every child in America. The act would:
- Provide incentives for states to expand coverage for families up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) through the SHCIP program.
- Allow states to obtain the resources necessary to identify and enroll the six million children who are eligible for existing coverage but are not enrolled. State will also be required to eliminate waiting lists and enrollment caps for children who qualify.
- Provide employers and families a buy-in option. Employers and families would be allowed to buy-in to the SCHIP program to cover their children under the bill if they were ineligible. In 2007, that would cost about $1,200 a year per child.
- Allow states to pay employers a subsidy up to 50 percent of the cost of covering their employers' children.
- Grant states more flexibility. The act would allow states to provide coverage to children up to the age of 25 and legal immigrant children, while offering incentives to cover pregnant women.
