Bloomington Mayor supports single-payer health care plan

Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan and eight members of the Bloomington City Council signed letters urging the city’s Congressmen to support a single-payer health care plan, which the Council has been advocating since 1994.

The letters will reach Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Evan Bayh (R-IN), and Reps. Baron Hill (D-9) and Steve Buyer (D-IN) before Congress reconvenes this September.

A single-payer system like the one the Council is advocating would establish one government-run entity to collect all health care fees and pay out all health care costs.

City council members said the public option included in the House of Representative’s proposed healthcare reform bill is a step in the right direction, but will not do enough to protect Americans from the weaknesses of the private insurance system.

“With this letter City Council members urge our U.S legislators to bring affordable healthcare to the tens of millions of un- and under-insured Americans,” Council President Andy Ruff said in a press release.

“Our nation cannot long remain strong and competitive with families and businesses straining under the burden of skyrocketing healthcare costs. The current system must be overhauled to save jobs, families and lives.”