Late Night Open Thread Feb 23, 2007 - Health Care

Health Care. That and the Iraq war are the most important issues for the voting public.

Many plans have evolved, recently, to try to tackle the Health Care issue. Here's Massachusettes plan:

Massachusetts spurs health-care debate
BOSTON (Reuters) - Working the phones of a health-care hotline in Boston, Kate Bicego does something that is unique in the country: she explains how even the poorest people can get state-funded health coverage.

Nearly a year into its pioneering health-care law, Massachusetts offers both a way forward and a warning that puts the state at the center of a growing national debate over extending health care to millions of Americans.

"We're handling just an incredible amount of calls," Bicego said at the non-profit Health Care for All. "Everyone wants to know about this new program."

Massachusetts has signed up 105,000 of its poorest people for coverage, or about a quarter of the uninsured, since April, when it became the first U.S. state with near universal health insurance.

The law makes coverage mandatory, bringing it within reach of poorer people through subsidies and industry reforms in an attempt to reverse a trend that has left more than 47 million Americans uninsured as traditional employer-based coverage shrinks. For those in Massachusetts earning less than the federal poverty level of $9,800, coverage is provided free.

Hospitals and Insurance Companies are getting into the act as well.

Here's what they are offering:

Hospital group pitches universal insurance
A group of U.S. hospitals on Thursday offered a plan to cover the nation's 47 million uninsured, including mandatory coverage for all and subsidies for the working poor.

The proposal by the Federation of American Hospitals, which represents about 20 percent of the industry, is the latest in a flurry of proposed schemes to solve the growing problem of the uninsured. Since 2000, about 6 million people in the United States have lost their insurance.

The hospital group's plan, estimated to increase federal spending by $115 billion, would build on the employer-based health system, under which most Americans already get coverage.

It would provide subsidies for individuals to buy insurance from their employer if they cannot afford it, or to buy tax-subsidized coverage in the open market.

Currently, individuals buying coverage in the open market don't receive the same tax advantages as employers.

Under the hospital group's plan, individuals would be required to sign up for a health insurance plan. If they don't, the government will do it for them and then those individuals will be assessed taxes to pay for the insurance premiums. The plan also encourages states to automatically enroll more people in public health programs like Medicaid.

Snip

Late last year, the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents managed care companies, presented its own $300 billion 10-year plan to expand insurance coverage.

The best would be a single payer Universal Health Care that is offered to the people in most of the Industrialized world.