Kennedy committee circulates bill providing universal coverage, requiring employers to pay - WTXX

Kennedy committee circulates bill providing universal coverage, requiring employers to pay - WTXX

All employers are to pay for health care now under the new plan. The costs will be astronomical while cutting back health care. Of course anyone will be able to walk in and demand health care, even illegal aliens. You will just have to sit and wait your turn as they do in Canada, sometimes for as much as 24 hours to be seen.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers would be required to offer health care to employees or pay a penalty, and all Americans would be guaranteed health insurance, under a draft bill being circulated Friday by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's health committee.

The bill would provide subsidies to help poor people afford care, and give patients the right to select any doctor they want.

Insurers would be required to provide a basic level of care and cover all comers, without turning people away because of pre-existing conditions or other reasons.

It's already been known that Kennedy's health committee was planning to pursue most of the concepts outlined in the draft of the bill, called the "American Health Choices Act." But it's the first actual bill language to circulate since Congress began working on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

"It's a draft of a draft. HELP democrats are still actively talking amongst themselves and their Republican colleagues," said Anthony Coley, spokeswoman for Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.