LWVMA  Health Care Policy

 Goal: An affordable health care system that provides
equal access to quality health care for all. (1983)

The League supports:

• a state and regional health care planning system that will set guidelines for
  allocation of health care resources in Massachusetts
• development of a state health plan by regional planning committees with final coordination and implementation at the state level
• coordination of planning, financing and regulation so that goals of the plan are accomplished
• public financing of health care provided by federal and state taxes for people who
  cannot pay
• citizen participation in planning, coordinating, financing, regulating, managing
  and monitoring, including consumer representation on planning committees
• consumer education on maintaining health, use of the health care system, costs
  and patients' rights
• emphasis on preventive medicine, use of alternative settings, individual responsibility
  for health maintenance, control of environmental hazards and consumer education
• rigorous monitoring on a regular basis by government, citizens and the health care community
• procedures for licensing, accreditation and certification of institutions and professionals that assure competence and reasonable standards in the practice of health care
• improving access to health care by removing geographic, linguistic and cultural barriers

Read more about LWVMA Health Care Policy at http://www.lwvma.org/healthcare.shtml

 

LWVUS Health Care Policy

GOALS:

The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that a basic level of quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all U.S. residents. Other U.S. health care policy goals should include the equitable distribution of services, efficient and economical delivery of care, advancement of medical research and technology, and a reasonable total national expenditure level for health care.

BASIC LEVEL OF QUALITY CARE: Every U.S. resident should have access to a basic level of care that includes the prevention of disease, health promotion and education, primary care (including prenatal and repro­ductive health), acute care, long-term care and mental health care. Dental, vision and hearing care also are important but lower in priority. The League believes that under any system of health care reform, consumers/ pa­tients should be permitted to purchase ser­vices or insurance coverage beyond the basic level.

FINANCING AND ADMINISTRATION: The League favors a national health insurance plan financed through general taxes in place of individual insurance premiums.* As the United States moves toward a national health insurance plan, an employer-based system of health care reform that provides universal ac­cess is acceptable to the League. The League supports administration of-the U.S. health care system either by a combination of the private and public sectors or by a combina­tion of federal, state and/or regional govern­ment agencies.

The League is opposed to a strictly private market-based model of financing the health care system. The League also is opposed to the administration of the health care system solely by the private sector or the states.

 

LWVUS Policy continued at http://www.lwvma.org/lwvushealthcare.shtml