Bill Text: FL S0074 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: National Universal Health Care Program [SPSC]

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on Health Regulation [S0074 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S0074-Introduced.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                                      SM 74 
 
By Senator Aronberg 
27-00130-10                                             201074__ 
1                           Senate Memorial 
2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States, 
3         urging Congress to enact legislation that establishes 
4         a national universal health care program having a 
5         comprehensive range of benefits. 
6 
7         WHEREAS, every person deserves access to affordable quality 
8  health care, and 
9         WHEREAS, the number of Floridians without health insurance 
10  totals approximately 4 million, and 
11         WHEREAS, in 2007, health care spending in the United States 
12  averaged $7,421 per person, the health care portion of the 
13  national gross domestic product reached 16.2 percent, and health 
14  care spending grew at 6.1 percent to $2.2 trillion, and 
15         WHEREAS, the United States has the most expensive health 
16  care system in the world in terms of absolute costs, per capita 
17  costs, and percentage of the gross domestic product, and 
18         WHEREAS, health care costs continue to increase, 
19  jeopardizing the security of working families and small 
20  businesses, and 
21         WHEREAS, despite being first in spending, the World Health 
22  Organization has ranked the United States health care system 
23  37th among all nations, and 
24         WHEREAS, among the 30 industrialized nations, only the 
25  United States does not have a national universal health care 
26  program, and 
27         WHEREAS, studies have found that citizens of countries that 
28  have a national universal health care program benefit from more 
29  physician visits and hospital stays than in the United States, 
30  and 
31         WHEREAS, in January 2004, the Institute of Medicine of the 
32  National Academy of Sciences issued a report calling for a 
33  national universal health care program in the United States and 
34  recommended that health care coverage be universal, continuous, 
35  affordable, and sustainable for individuals and families, and 
36  determined that such coverage should be designed to enhance the 
37  health and well-being of citizens of the United States by 
38  promoting access to high-quality health care that is effective, 
39  efficient, safe, timely, patient-centered, and equitable, NOW, 
40  THEREFORE, 
41 
42  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
43 
44         That the Congress of the United States is requested to: 
45         (1) Enact legislation that provides health care coverage 
46  for all Americans, that includes coverage for preventive health 
47  care, physician services, dental care, hospital services, 
48  maternity care, mental health services, long-term care, and 
49  prescription medications, and that has affordable cost sharing 
50  and a reasonable limit on out-of-pocket expenses; and 
51         (2) Study all models and proposed systems and enact only 
52  the model that is the simplest to administrate, has the least 
53  amount of administrative overhead, reduces costs the most, 
54  offers coverage that is more comprehensive than that which is 
55  currently available on the market, and controls costs so that 
56  benefits are sustainable. 
57         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be 
58  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the 
59  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the 
60  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of 
61  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.