Tom Tancredo on Health Care

Tancredo maintains the U.S. still has the best health care system in the world. To maintain our high standards, Tancredo believes we need to give Americans more choice as well as reduce the amount of federal regulation of health care. He blames illegal immigration for increased costs, reduced availability and quality of health care. Tancredo supports Association Health Plans (AHP) and health savings accounts (HSA). He believes that drug reimportation should only be allowed if it is for personal use.

Illegal immigration:

Tancredo argues that while illegal immigration isn’t generally the first thing Americans think of when they think about health care, it has a significant impact on the cost, availability and quality of health care available to Americans.

Association Health Plans:

Tancredo argues that Association Health Plans (AHP’s) would assist greatly in improving access to affordable health care – without creating a new “big government scheme.”

AHPs allow small business owners to band together through pre-existing professional associations to purchase health insurance at reduced rates. It will help to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, Tancredo asserts, by giving small business the same accessibility, affordability, and choice in the health care marketplace that Fortune 500 companies and unions now enjoy. Some experts estimate that up to 8.5 million uninsured small business workers could gain coverage and small business owners would save up to 25 percent on health insurance enabling more businesses to provide coverage.

Tax credits:

Tancredo supports an annual flat tax credit to individuals and families to assist them in purchasing health insurance if their employers do not offer health coverage.

Health savings account:

I also support health savings accounts, which are savings accounts for individuals and families with high-deductible health plans to save, tax-free for the future of their health and the health of their loved ones.

Reimportation of drugs:

Tancredo supports the reimportation of drugs from facilities outside the US into the US for personal use, but wants to see less strings attached then currently on the table.