Khavari Economic Plan would improve medical care quality and availability, reduce costs in Florida
Miami, FL Mar. 22 — Noted economist and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farid Khavari congratulated President Obama and Congressional Democrats for passing the Health Care Reform bill, but cautioned that states must take action on health costs now, or face bankruptcy by 2020. “No health care plan of any kind can succeed until we reduce costs dramatically. Florida must prepare for over a million new Medicaid enrollees. The federal government is supposed to pay for the extra cost, but only until 2016. Then Florida can look forward to billions per year in additional Medicaid costs even if Washington chips in the usual 54%.
Rising unemployment will increase Medicaid enrollment even higher,” Khavari said. “All states face similar problems.”
Khavari continued, “Bill McCollum’s response to Health Care Reform is to threaten suit on Constitutional grounds. Alex Sink has said nothing at all on the subject—but she just found out a week ago that there is huge unemployment and a lot of foreclosures happening in Florida. Neither of them has offered a plan to fix our health care before it bankrupts our state and our people.” McCollum is Florida’s Attorney-General, and a Republican candidate for governor. Sink is Chief Financial Officer and a Democratic candidate for governor.
“My detailed plan to improve efficiency in health care delivery is on my website for everyone to see. You can read my newest book there for free. We can make quality health care available 24 hours a day to everyone, for much less than we are paying now. Stop and think about the fact that Florida right now spends about $5,000 per year per Medicaid recipient. That’s what many so-called Cadillac health plans cost. Does anyone believe that Medicaid patients have the same quality and availability of care that executives get? We can do better for half the cost,” Khavari said. “Taxpayers are paying for waste and fraud that has grown under Republican administrations. For this kind of money, we could send every Medicaid patient to Switzerland for health care and save 30%. Now imagine what we could do if we got good value for our money.”
Khavari has also gained national acclaim for his plan to establish a state-owned bank, which would save state and local governments billions per year in interest expense, while offering 2% fixed-rate mortgages and other programs to save Floridians more billions per year. Since announcement of the Khavari Economic Plan, gubernatorial candidates in California, Oregon, Vermont, Michigan and Illinois have declared state-owned banks as part of their platforms. “Our Bank of the State of Florida will balance state and local budgets without higher taxes. We can finance the reforms we need to make the best quality health care in the world available to every Floridian, 24 hours per day, and reduce costs for everyone, including private insurers ,” Khavari said.
Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.
