• Today, many areas of the country are dominated by only one or two insurance companies. establishing a public health insurance option will create a new choice for individuals and families.
• Competition in consolidated markets, driven by the introduction of a more efficient and transparent plan, will help lower premiums for all plans as the private market is forced to compete on a level playing field for the first time.
• By creating an alternative in the market, both public and private plans will be accountable for their actions because people can leave one for the other during enrollment periods. For example, if the public option fails to maintain an adequate provider network, people will not enroll. Likewise, if the private plans inappropriately restrict access to care, people may choose the public option.
• The 'public option' plan is not free. It is purchased by paying premiums. Any American that wants to have his or her insurance provided by the public option plan will have to pay premiums to the plan.
• The public health insurance option must meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same insurance market reforms as private plans.
• Like private plans, premiums for the public health insurance option will be established for the local market areas that are designated by the Exchange and will vary by region.
• Individuals in the Exchange can choose freely among the private carriers and the public option. Employers who participate in the Exchange cannot dictate employees' participation in a particular plan.
• Some Americans may receive subsidies (called 'affordability credits') if their income levels are close to the poverty line. Affordability credits can be used for any plan in the Exchange -- public or private.
• To ensure independence of the Exchange, the public health insurance option will be run by the Department of Health and Human Services, not the Exchange.
• Like private plans, the public health insurance option must be financially self-sustaining and maintain its operations using premium revenue.
• The public health insurance option will have lower administrative costs than private plans, and it will be accountable to its enrollees and taxpayers, not shareholders or highly-paid executives.
• The Secretary of Health and Human Services will negotiate provider payment rates, which can be no higher than the average private plan rates and no lower than Medicare.
• To ensure independence of the Exchange, the public health insurance option will be run by the Department of Health and Human Services, not the Exchange and not by a private corporation.

No one will be forced to purchase his or her health insurance from a private corporation. However, anybody who wants to purchase insurance from a private corporation (like Blue Cross, United or Aetna) can purchase from a private corporation.

Likewise, no one will be forced to purchase his or her health insurance from the public option either. However, any eligible American who chooses to purchase his or her insurance from the public option (run by the government) will also be able to do that.

All Americans will be able to choose. They will have more options.

They will be able to keep the insurance they have, purchase insurance through their employers, purchase insurance on the free market, purchase private insurance through the exchange or purchase the public option through the exchange.

All of these choices will be open to all Americans in the bill passed by the House last week.

Health insurance reform opponents continue to spread myths about components of America's Affordable Health Choices Act. On Sunday, in a last-ditch effort to kill the health insurance reform moving through Congress, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) (the lobby for the health insurance industry) released a report that claims that the Senate Finance Committee bill would mean higher health care premiums for America's families than current law. Independent analysts quickly labeled the report both incomplete and deeply flawed.

Health insurance reform opponents also continue to spread myths about components of America's Affordable Health Choices Act, including the notion that mandating people to get health insurance coverage is like imposing a new tax on them.

Will all Americans be required to participate in a health care insurance plan? Yes. This is thought to be a critical component for the success of health care reform. All of the civilized countries have this same requirement.

Fixing our health insurance system to ensure quality, affordable care - and to end an era where insurance companies can discriminate against you because you get sick - requires shared responsibility, on the part of individuals, employers and the government.

America's Affordable Health Choices Act makes this idea of shared responsibility work by making affordable insurance available to all, offering small businesses exemptions and tax credits, and offering Americans affordability credits based on income to help pay their premiums. Furthermore, under the bill, there is a hardship exemption for those with circumstances that make no available insurance policies affordable.

A poll just released by Kaiser Family Foundation found that the American public strongly supports an individual mandate. In the poll, 68 percent of Americans state that they support "requiring all Americans to have health insurance, with financial help for those who can't afford it."

This coverage requirement is no different than states requiring drivers to purchase automobile insurance. Those who can afford to purchase health insurance and choose not to would be choosing not to comply with the law and would be subject to a penalty - much like those who choose to drive without insurance can be fined.

Right now, all insured Americans are paying a hidden health care tax to cover those who go without health insurance. For example, if a person who hasn't purchased health insurance is hit by a car, all the rest of us pay for the health care they receive when they go to the hospital. Indeed, the average insured American family of four pays more than $1,000 a year to cover the cost of health care for the more than 46 million people who - either by choice or necessity - have no insurance.

Without reform, health care costs are expected to increase for the average family by $1,800 each year - that annual increase alone is more than the penalty for not being insured for most Americans.

For more about all of the other industrialized countries that do require mandatory participation by all of their citizens, see this website - Sick Around the World. It will teach that the U.S. is the only industrialized country that does not have mandatory participation requirements.

For more information about the public option, please consult this page: Affordable Health Care for America Act.