Thread by @highbrow_nobrow

1. Vice President Joe Biden’s healthcare plan is transformative and should go a long way in lowering inequities in access to quality medical care.

Here are some facets of Biden’s plan: (see thread)
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. Biden's healthcare plan centers around and makes improvements to the Affordable Care Act, in part by adding a public option that he says will be like “Medicare.”
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. Biden’s campaign website says, "As in Medicare, the Biden public option will reduce costs for patients by negotiating lower prices from hospitals and other healthcare providers.”
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

4. “Biden's plan also would eliminate the income limit -- currently 100% to 400% of the federal poverty level -- required to be eligible for a tax credit to help pay for health insurance bought on the ACA's individual market.” (MedPage Today)
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

5. The plan would also end “surprise billing,” barring healthcare providers from charging patients out-of-network rates in situations like hospitalizations, when patients have no control over who they see.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

7. Biden would also address the lack of competition in the healthcare industry, which drives up prices, by using existing antitrust authority.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

8. To bring down the cost of medications, Biden’s plan would repeal laws barring Medicare from negotiating prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

9. The plan would also “impose a tax penalty on drug manufacturers that increase the costs of their brand, biotech, or abusively priced generic over the general inflation rate,” Biden’s campaign website says.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

10. In addition, Biden’s plan would allow Americans to import prescription drugs from other countries that have been deemed safe by the Department of Health and Human Services, generating more competition for U.S. drug companies.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

11. “He would also work to enforce mental health parity laws requiring health insurers to cover mental healthcare at the same level as physical healthcare.” (MedPage Today)
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

12. The Biden plan also would lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60, in order to help preserve insurance continuity for those struggling to obtain coverage.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…