PHILADELPHIA (NNPA) – Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama has laid out his plan to ease health-care costs, specifically in the African-American community.
In an interview, Obama acknowledged the fact that health-care benefits are still lagging in the African-American community.
“The African-American community continues to have poorer health and receives lower quality health care than other Americans,” said Obama. “African-Americans are more likely to be uninsured. The death rate is a third higher for African-Americans than it is for whites.”
To this end, Obama came up with a solution to get a grip on the debilitating problem. According to Obama’s plan, unveiled Oct. 9, if a person already has health care, then the premiums would be lowered by $2,500 each year by investing in electronic health records and chronic-care management prevention.
However, those without existing health care will be able to buy into a plan similar to that offered to members of Congress. If it is unaffordable, then it will be subsidized.
“Nobody in America should be wanting for health care if they are willing to go through these programs,” Obama said.
Children are included as part of Obama’s crusade to put all Americans under the health care umbrella.
“What we want to do is expand health care for all children immediately through the State Children’s Healthcare Insurance Program,” said Obama.
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a federal government program that gives funds to states to provide health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.
Ridding health-care disparities ranks high on Obama’s plans for change in health care.
“We are going to make sure that AIDS education programs are in the communities where we’ve seen the highest growth in AIDS,” Obama said. “We are making sure that the regular screenings for things like prostate cancer and breast cancer, that occur at higher rates in the African-American community, are adequately funded on the front end so that we can save money on the back end.”
Obama pointed out the differences in his opponent’s, Sen. John McCain, health-care proposal.
“Sen. McCain has a plan that would, I believe, make it worse for a lot of working families,” Obama stated. “He says he’s going to give people a $5,000 tax credit. What he doesn’t say is he’s going to tax health-care benefits for the first time in history.”
By doing this, Obama said the ramifications could be adverse.
He said, “It would strip away a lot of the protection that states currently put in place to deal with abuses by the insurance companies.”
