Would-be mayor Anthony Weiner believes he has found a way for New York City to stand up to rising health care costs: the government, if he gets to helm it.
The former Congressman revealed Thursday he wants New York City to act as a “single-payer laboratory,” funding employees’ medical expenses directly instead of paying the employees through insurance companies.
As such, Weiner wants city workers to pay 10% of their own salaries for health care–and if they are smokers, a whopping 25%.
He claimed that the savings from this model’s first three years could amount to $1 billion, saying, “I refuse to accept that these are non-controllable costs.”
Last week, Weiner’s staff contested a New York Times article which quoted him as saying he coined the term “Obamacare.” They said instead that he adopted the title for use in a positive light before any other Democrat.
He won’t have to worry about who gets credit for “Weinercare.” New York magazine coined the title for the single-payer plan Thursday evening, just a bit before the New York Daily News.