Newswire/ -- While President Bush should be congratulated for recognizing the deepening health-care crisis American families face, his expected call Tuesday night for more tax deductions and "consumer-driven" health care fails to address the real need for affordable, quality health care for all, Consumers Union said today.
"It's positive the president wants to make health care part of his agenda, but many of his proposals actually hurt consumers and waste precious tax dollars," said Bill Vaughan, senior policy analyst for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.
"We urge Congress to take the president's State of the Union focus on health care and turn it into a comprehensive solution that helps all Americans get affordable, quality health care as good as that available to members of Congress."
The president's plan for "consumer-driven" health care does little to help middle-class Americans struggling with spiraling health care costs, considering a record high of nearly 46 million Americans were without health insurance last year.
When an individual family policy for decent health coverage costs about $11,000 a year, tax credits of $1,000 to $3,000 to buy insurance are almost meaningless," Vaughan added.
Consumers Union also urges the president and Congress to acknowledge the problems with the new Medicare prescription drug law and take action to simplify the program and lower its costs.
The drug prices private plans are offering seniors are not nearly as low as those obtained by the Department of Veterans Affairs - which negotiates drug prices for veterans.
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