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| Clinton to offer health care plan - some details |
| 2007-09-17 |
| Perhaps more competition? Maybe the HMOs will have to get more flexible to survive? Might drive down some costs to help offset the additional expense? [Such as ER care as an only option, and increased competition from the government?] Might also be able to tax it instead of calling it a business loss. I'll bet that's why hospitals charge exhorbitant amounts for everything - so they end up with huge write-offs. Better make sure medium and large employers don't offer crappy plans so that people flee to the government plan and the taxpayer ends up picking up the tab. Perhaps charge them more than a decent plan if it looks like they are flaking out? I think this should be a plan of last resort, but one that is humane if one has to fall back on it. For months, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised a plan to bring health care to every American. She was to make good on that pledge Monday, unveiling a sweeping proposal requiring everyone to carry health insurance and offering federal subsidies to help reduce the cost of coverage. With a price tag of about $110 billion per year, Clinton's "American Health Choices Plan" represents her first major effort to achieve universal health coverage since 1994, when the plan she authored during her husband's first term collapsed. The former first lady says she has learned from that experience, which almost derailed Bill Clinton's presidency and helped put Republicans in control of Congress for years to come. Aides say she has jettisoned the complexity and uncertainty of the last effort in favor of a plan that stresses simplicity, cost control and consumer choice. The centerpiece of Clinton's plan is the so-called "individual mandate," requiring everyone to have health insurance — just as most states require drivers to purchase auto insurance. Rival John Edwards has also offered a plan that includes an individual mandate, while the proposal outlined by Barack Obama does not. "It puts the consumer in the driver's seat by offering more choices and lowering costs," Neera Tanden, Clinton's top policy adviser, told The Associated Press. "If you like the plan you have, you keep it. If you're one of tens of millions of Americans without coverage or don't like the coverage you have, you will have a choice of plans to pick from and you'll get tax credits to help pay for it." Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, has already laid out proposals to improve health care quality and reduce costs. She was to release her universal health care plan in Iowa, the first voting state. With 47 million Americans currently uninsured, the Democratic presidential contenders have been united in advocating universal coverage. They have parted ways on certain specifics, including the individual mandate, which has detractors from both ends of the political spectrum. Republican skeptics say it would be too invasive and would restrict personal freedom and choice. Liberal Democrats have expressed concern that such a mandate would be too financially budensome for lower-income individuals and families — a concern shared by Obama, who has said individuals cannot be forced to purchase insurance until the cost of coverage is substantially reduced. Aides said Clinton believes that an individual mandate is the only way to achieve health care for all. A key component of her plan would be a federal tax subsidy to help individuals pay for coverage. Clinton's plan builds on the existing employer-based system of coverage. People who receive insurance through the workplace could continue to do so; businesses, in turn, would be required to offer insurance to employees, or contribute to a government-run pool that would help pay for those not covered. Clinton would also offer a tax subsidy to small businesses to help them afford the cost of providing coverage to their workers. For individuals and families who are not covered by employers or whose employer-based coverage is inadequate, Clinton would offer expanded versions of two existing government programs: Medicare, and the health insurance plan currently offered to federal employees. Consumers could choose between either government-run program, but aides stress that no new federal bureaucracy would be created under the Clinton plan. Aides said Clinton will propose several specific measures to pay for her plan, including an end to some of the Bush-era tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 per year. Edwards has vowed to completely repeal the tax cuts for high earners to pay for the cost of his plan, estimated at $90 billion-$120 billion per year, while Obama would pay for his plan in part by letting the tax cuts expire in 2010. Clinton is also expected to stress several cost-saving measures to help pay for universal coverage. She's already recommended several such proposals, such computerized medical record-keeping and a reduction in federal overpayments to hospitals and health maintenance organizations. She would also promote wellness and disease prevention as a way to reduce costs. Clinton is sure to court danger from the health insurance industry by proposing several industry reforms. Among other things, she would require insurance companies to provide coverage to all consumers regardless of pre-existing conditions. The insurance industry helped kill Clinton's earlier attempt at health care reform through a multibillion-dollar media and lobbying campaign. While Clinton is expected to lay out a concrete vision for health care reform, she will probably steer clear of delving too deeply into policy specifics, at least for now. Her 1994 effort was 1,300 pages long and so detailed it offered little room for any maneuvering or compromise. And after seven years in the Senate, Clinton has said she's developed a greater appreciation of the need to compromise. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #8 I'll be interested in what ANY politician has to say about health care when THEY vote to be subject to the same system they want to force on US. Until then, the whole lot of the can go take a flying leap. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-17 16:07 |
| #7 > so i HAVE TO have health insurance... If you have a large amount of cash on hand to use for an excess, you should be able to get very cheap insurance. There does seem to be a problem that people who have NO insurance eventually demand and get treatment at others expense. These sort of free-rider problems are what governments are supposed to solve. Hey, at least an American NHS isn't proposed so count your lucky stars! P.S. The tax credit amount should be fixed at the rate for a HEALTHY individual scaled to age and sex, otherwise the government will subsidise and encourage poor health choices. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2007-09-17 14:58 |
| #6 Look on the bright side, if we end up with Edward's plan, police will bust down your door and force you to go for your prostate exams. |
| Posted by: Titus Hayes 2007-09-17 14:10 |
| #5 I read Shrillary's last health care plan. OMFG ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-09-17 13:46 |
| #4 so i HAVE TO have health insurance... |
| Posted by: dan 2007-09-17 12:25 |
| #3 When they can make the VA, TRICARE, and the Health Services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs a model that others want to copy, then come and talk to me. Otherwise, its just another blackhole to suck the vitality out of the system in the name of the Poor(tm) and Children(tm). Sale your guilt trip elsewhere. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-09-17 11:15 |
| #2 ...Okay, everybody HAS to have medical insurance, and they'll get tax credits to cover it. I can buy that. Two questions though: First, what's the cost to the taxpayer going to be on those credits? I once worked for a Fortune 100 company whose health insurance benefit cost me nearly $400/month for my family. The Feds are going to give out $4800/yr in tax credits to millions of people? Secondly, I have health insurance through CHAMPUS(military retiree). Will I have to purchase a private policy? Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-09-17 10:45 |
| #1 Nothing beats a fight between the trial lawyers and the medicos. This is an extra-large popcorn duel to the death. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-09-17 10:01 |