Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “American Health Security Act of 2013”.
American Health Security Act of 2013
A BILL
To provide for health care for every American and to control the cost and enhance the quality of the health care system.
Sec. 2 Findings; sense of the Senate
Findings— Congress finds as follows:
While the United States of America spends on average nearly twice as much per capita on health care services as the next most costly nation, the United States ranks 32d among all nations on life expectancy, and 41st on infant mortality.
The number of uninsured Americans held at an unacceptable rate of 15.7 percent in 2011, more than 48,000,000 Americans.
This is the result of a continued decline in private health coverage, primarily in employer-sponsored insurance.
Small businesses around the country cannot afford to reinvest in their companies and create new jobs because their health care bills are going up 10 or 15 percent every year.
American businesses are at an economic disadvantage, because their health care costs are so much higher than in other countries. Notably, automobile manufacturers spend more on health care per automobile than on steel.
Sense of the Senate concerning urgency of a Medicare-for-All type single payer health care system— It is the sense of the Senate that the 113th Congress should enact a Medicare-for-All Single Payer Health Care System to make American companies more competitive and to stimulate job creation.
Sense of the Senate concerning the status of health care— It is the sense of the Senate that the 113th Congress should recognize and proclaim that health care is a human right.
Sense of the Senate concerning State flexibility— It is the sense of the Senate that in order to provide high quality health care coverage for all Americans while controlling costs in order to make American companies more competitive, individual States should be given maximum flexibility in designing health care programs to improve the individual experience of care and the health of populations, and to reduce the per capita costs of care for each State.
Sense of the Senate concerning a new health care system— It is the sense of the Senate that—
a new single payer health care system should build on achievements and commitments in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–152), to strengthen primary care and public health, to raise the quality of patient care, to develop new models of patient care, to develop the capacity of the healthcare workforce, to increase transparency in the payment of health care system costs, and to strengthen enforcement against fraud and abuse;
the possibilities of achieving efficiencies through integrated care are within reach with the spread of electronic support systems, health information exchanges, and the possibilities for virtual integration and instant communication; and
policies should be put in place to ensure higher quality, better prevention, and lower per capita costs, including—
global budget caps on total health care spending;
measurement of and fixed accountability for the health status and health needs of designated populations;
improved standardized measures of care and per capita costs across sites and through time that are transparent; and
changes in professional education curricula to ensure that clinicians are enabled to change and improve their processes of care.