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Health
Care
The
recent enactment of the Medicare prescription drug
legislation assures that many older homeowners will not have
to sell their homes to get money to pay for expensive
prescription drugs. It also includes incentives for
employers to continue to provide retiree health insurance
coverage and allows beneficiaries the choice between new
managed care options and traditional Medicare. AHGA urges
Congress to make legal the importation of prescription drugs
and eliminate the prescription coverage gap. Health
insurance costs for the self-employed should be made fully
deductible and some of the current restrictions on all group
or individual health insurance policies should be removed.
At a minimum however all health plans should cover care at
the nearest emergency room, including costs of emergency
services and "post-stabilization" care, pay for
prescribed drugs (even if those drugs are not on the
insurers "approved' list), guarantee patients direct
access to pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists,
require insurers to allow patients the choice of any
physician (at a higher cost if necessary), allow permanent
unlimited access to medical savings accounts, and allow
patients to seek state and/or federal damage awards that are
proportionate to the injury.
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