Ryan Grim
The Huffington Post
January 26, 2009
John Conyers plans to introduce his universal healthcare legislation today, a Conyers aide tells the Huffington Post. The bill – known last session as H.R. 676 – is a favorite of healthcare reformers who back a single-payer system.
The bill, which will again be H.R. 676, is one of the more elegant to be introduced in the House, clocking in at just a few pages.
The plan is simple: everyone is eligible for a version of Medicare under a new U.S. National Health Insurance Program.
The program would effectively put private insurers out of business. What to do with all those employees? Hire them, says Conyers’ bill.
“The Program shall provide that clerical, administrative, and billing personnel in insurance companies, doctors offices, hospitals, nursing facilities, and other facilities whose jobs are eliminated due to reduced administration (1) should have first priority in retraining and job placement in the new system; and (2) shall be eligible to receive 2 years of unemployment benefits.”
Conyers, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, last introduced his bill, which garnered 93 cosponsors, in February 2007. It was referred to committee but never given a hearing.
If the 647-page House stimulus bill was too much to get through, try Conyers’ out.