Wyden's Health Care Plan Video

Ezra Klein points out the surprisingly good health care video produced in support of Senator Ron Wyden's health care plan, known as the Wyden Bennett plan or Healthy Americans Act.  The Act proposes to de-link health insurance from employment.  The video is rather bittersweet (it is sad what people do for health insurance).  It is also rather funny - I am sure that all of us have worked at jobs where we would rather not be and have considered engaging in some slightly unprofessional behavior at times . . . . ok, perhaps it is just me. 

Here is some background on the Wyden Bennett Act/Healthy Americans Act:

The Healthy Americans Act would guarantee every American universal, affordable, comprehensive, portable, high-quality, private health coverage that is as good or better than Members of Congress have today.  The Act includes tough cost containment measures - and would save Americans $1.45 trillion over the next decade.  All 46 million uninsured Americans would be covered, for the same funds currently spent by Americans on health care.  And every American will feel secure, knowing that your health care won't ever go away.

There are, of course, many details.  Here's a few of the highlights. 

The Healthy Americans Act:

• guarantees you private health care coverage that doesn't go away, even if you change jobs, lose your job, retire, go to school, or become too sick to work.
• provides a generous benefit equal to those of Members of Congress
• ensures that everyone has affordable health care coverage, including meaningful assistance to low-income Americans.
• puts you in charge of your health care choices, not your employer
• makes sure that everyone has the same affordable coverage options, no matter your age, gender, genetic information, or pre-existing health conditions
• saves $1.48 trillion over 10 years through tough cost containment
• provides incentives for individuals and insurers to focus on prevention, wellness and disease management
• creates meaningful and easy-to-understand wellness statistics so that Americans can compare health care plans
• is fully paid for by spending the $2.2 trillion currently spent on health care in America.

More information about the Act is available at Senator Wyden's website.