Dallas County Democrats
State Republican Platforms: Health Care

These are excerpts from Platforms and Resolutions passed by various state Republican parties this year. They show how far out of the mainstream are the extremists that have taken over the Republican party.

• Texas: The Party supports amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities, and behavior disorders, thereby reducing the abuse of this Act.
• Iowa: We support the eventual phasing out and privatization of Medicare/Medicaid.
• Oregon: Republicans would solve the Medicare problem by allowing every individual citizen the freedom to choose to direct that portion of his payroll tax now paid for Medicare to his private Medical Savings Account. ... As more people choose to leave the Medicare system the financial burden would ease and this bankrupt, socialist program would gradually be phased out. Republican health care policy for the general population calls for the universal use of Medical Savings Accounts and De-regulation [sic] of the health care industry.
• Wisconsin: The state and federal government should implement legislation to allow for the expansion of tax-free medical savings accounts.
• Washington: We support: ... Elimination of employer-related government mandates concerning health insurance premiums. Republicans: Failing on Health Care:
• Arkansas: Specifically, the Arkansas Platform expresses support for: ... Medical savings Accounts with features like an IRA account. Medicaid Block Grants to States With "No Federal Strings": Arkansas Republicans believe that such strings defeat the purpose of state grants. Distribution of Medicaid grant funds should be left to the discretion of each state.
• California: ...the CRP supports legislation designed to create private sector solutions, such as small business group insurance reforms, self-employment premium deductions, and medical savings accounts.
• Illinois: We support, too, the development of "individual medical accounts," because of their great potential to expand health care coverage.
• Iowa: We support rescission of AIDS as a disability. We believe that AIDS should be classified as a communicable disease and treated as such under current law. ... We support mandatory reporting for AIDS and HIV viruses of all health care professionals and support patient access to the results of those tests. Further, we support the right of all health care professionals to have knowledge of the AIDS/HIV status of their patients prior to providing medical services.
• Minnesota: We support the following reforms: Promoting programs that reduce health care costs by introducing genuine market competition into the system. We support the following reforms: ... Giving individuals more health care choices by permitting medical savings accounts.
• Missouri: Therefore, the Missouri Republican Party supports: medical savings accounts that are tax exempt and may be used for meeting medical expenses for each individual or family member without penalty for withdrawal.
• North Carolina: Republicans believe market solutions are appropriate to meet rising health care prices, and so we support medical savings accounts.
• Oregon: The centerpiece of the Republican plan is the self-directed medical savings account.
• Washington: At the national level, we support: ... A private option for... Medicare. We support: ... Tax-exempt Medical Savings Accounts.
• West Virginia: Individuals should be allowed the same tax deduction for health insurance that businesses enjoy, as well as the option to set up tax free medical savings accounts to provide resources for future medical expenses...

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