Hillary Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate and New York senator, is buffing up her universal health care plan, saying that she would cap the amount a family would have to pay per year for health insurance.
Under these new provisions, families would not have to pay more than 10 percent of the annual income on health coverage. That means a family with a household income of just under $60,000 would pay no more than $5,799 for their plan, reported The New York Times.
But costs will be an issue if Senator Clinton’s plan is eventually passed. Many policies today cost more than $9,000 a year — much more than the New York senator’s cap.
Clinton did address this concern. She said that she would favor increasing federal cigarette taxes to fund the health care program.
“I’m a big believer in raising tobacco taxes… I don’t have any objection to that, ” said Senator Clinton an interview on health care.
She also indicated that she might support requiring insurance companies to spend a certain amount of the premiums they collect on health care for members.
When asked about Medicare, Senator Clinton would try to control costs to save the health care program for disabled and senior Americans. Medicare officials guess that the program will run out of money in less than 10 years.
Senator Clinton acknowledged the tough task it will be to bring universal health care to the U.S, but it’s something the country needs.
“…[I]n the absence of universal health care it’s very difficult to control costs, and it’s extremely hard to incentivize quality improvements at the level you need to really see results. ”