Headlines about "Health plans - policy"
Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
Wal-Mart Supports Employer-Mandated Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said on Tuesday that it supports President Barack Obama's push to require large employers to offer health insurance to workers. 'We are for an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage,' stated a letter addressed to Obama and signed by Mike Duke, the chief executive of Wal-Mart; Andy Stern, the president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and John Podesta, the CEO of the Center for American Progress." (Reuters)
[Opinion] There's a Very Good Reason Wal-Mart Supports an Employer Mandate
Excerpt: "Recent press reports, including a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal, have the news that Wal-Mart has signed a letter to President Obama endorsing the idea of an 'employer mandate' ? a requirement that employers offer health insurance to their employees. Why would Wal-Mart ? the nation's largest employer ? endorse such an idea? Simple: It would cripple many of their competitors." (The Heritage Foundation)
Who Gets Employer-Based Health Insurance?
Excerpt: "One important issue of the health care debate is what to do with the employer-based health insurance system. As Uwe Reinhardt has written, nowhere else in the industrialized world does losing your job also mean losing your health care. But which Americans are actually in the system? It's easy enough to say those who are employed (and some who are dependents of the employed), but that doesn't tell the whole story." (The New York Times; free registration required)
HELP Committee Democrats Draft New Bill with Public Plan and Employer Mandate They Say Is Cheaper
Excerpt: "Democrats on a key Senate committee are readying a plan that has a government-run insurance option and a $750-per-worker annual fee on larger companies that do not offer coverage to its employees, The Associated Press reports. 'In a letter outlining the details, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said their revised plan would cost dramatically less than an earlier, incomplete proposal, and help show the way toward coverage for 97 percent of all Americans." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Senators Consider Dropping Required Employer Coverage from Health Care Reform Bill
Excerpt: "In its place would be a 'free rider' provision requiring employers to pay for employees who get their health care with government assistance, according to an outline of the committee's policy proposals. The legislation from the Senate Finance Committee is expected to be released after the July Fourth holiday. Two other drafts of health care legislation, one in the Senate and another in the House, would require employers to provide health insurance to employees. Retailers and other businesses that have minimum- or low-wage employees, such as Wal-Mart, oppose the free-rider clause, which they are describing as a backdoor mandate, says a source who asked not to be named but who is familiar with Wal-Mart's health care policy stance. Around 2.5 percent of Wal-Mart employees receive Medicaid, according to the company." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
House Committees Examine Draft Legislation, While Senate Committees Delay Mark Ups
Excerpt: "Congress has now recessed for a one-week break from its healthcare reform deliberations, in most cases having fallen short of their self-proclaimed goals for legislative progress. The following is a short recap of where the three major bills are at this point in time." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
State Health Care Reform Update
Excerpt: "For the last few years, states have been leading the way toward more comprehensive health care coverage to ensure that more people have or can obtain health insurance. Because of the potential impact of this ongoing activity on employer-provided health insurance benefits, Spencer's Benefits Reports provides regular updates about state health care reform[.]" (Wolters Kluwer)
Health Insurance Tax Is Focus of New Labor Ads
Excerpt: "One labor union will begin airing ads in two states Tuesday that deal with an . . . explosive issue: Taxing health benefits. The Laborers' International Union of North America will run the ads at least through Thursday in North Dakota and Montana, according to spokesman Jacob Hay. In a demonstration of the fine line labor is walking on this issue, the ads first praise Congress for taking up the health care debate but then criticize an idea that could be included in one draft of the legislation to tax health care premiums." (USA Today)
Insurance Lobbyest at Center of Health Debate
Excerpt: "The face of the insurance industry in Washington is a slight, soft-spoken former AFL-CIO employee benefits director with a penchant for data-driven logic. She has the confidence and intellectual agility of a skilled debater, but prefers to dwell on areas of agreement. On healthcare, Karen Ignagni often sounds like the lifelong Democrat that she is." (The Boston Globe)
San Francisco Aims for Universal Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Three years ago, this city turned itself into a laboratory for remaking the country's health care system with a bold experiment to expand services to the uninsured, working poor and medically underserved. Mayor Gavin Newsom touts Healthy San Francisco as a signature accomplishment ? worthy as a model for the nation. It's too early to tell whether he is right, with researchers only beginning to evaluate the program's early successes and longer-term limitations." (The Sacramento Bee)
White House Won't Rule Out Taxing Middle-Class Workers' Health Benefits
Excerpt: "President Obama's top political adviser declined [Sunday] to rule out the possibility that the White House would agree to a tax hike on health insurance plans that would hit middle-income Americans. Speaking on ABC's 'This Week,' David Axelrod declined to repeat Obama's 'firm pledge' during the campaign that families making under $250,000 would not see 'any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.'" (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Charleston, West Virginia, Still Allows Employees to Trade Sick Days for Health Insurance
Excerpt: "Eight years after state government stopped the practice for new hires, the city of Charleston continues to let employees trade unused sick days for health insurance premiums in retirement. And despite the fact that the city, like the state, has a hefty unfunded liability for health insurance promised to its retirees, City Manager David Molgaard says the city comes out ahead by using the incentive." (Charleston Daily Mail)
Changes to Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums: Potential Source of Financing for Health Reform
Excerpt: "Many have suggested that reducing or eliminating the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) could generate significant additional tax revenue to fund expansions in health insurance coverage. In this paper, we focus on two specific policy design elements: (1) a cap, or dollar limit, on the amount of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums excluded from taxable income; and (2) an index that determines how this cap might grow over time. Our analysis shows that limiting the tax exclusion would provide substantial funding for health reform and mitigate the huge inequities built into the current treatment of employer premiums." (Urban Institute)
Background Guide to Health Reform in 2009
Excerpt: "This Guide will give you background on the health care reform efforts winding through the 111th Congress -- the players, the timeline, and the issues. [Segal] will update this page as details . . . change." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
Unions' Health Benefits May Avoid Tax Under Senate Proposal
Excerpt: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years. The exception, which could make the proposal more politically palatable to Democrats from heavily unionized states such as Michigan, is adding controversy to an already contentious debate. It would shield the 12.4 percent of American workers who belong to unions from being taxed while exposing some other middle-income workers to the levy." (Bloomberg L.P.)
The Convergence of Quality and Efficiency and the Role of Information Technology in Healthcare Reform (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "[R]educing waste in healthcare is a unique example of how doing the right thing (improving outcomes) can also save money. How much waste is present that could eventually be removed? Milliman's actuaries have concluded that the amount of waste in the healthcare system is in excess of 25% of total healthcare spending, or more than $600 billion in 2008. In pursuing the elimination of waste, can the dual objectives of quality care and cost effectiveness be achieved simultaneously? Milliman's clinicians believe that best medical practices lead to this result -- that quality and cost effectiveness converge. However, realizing even a significant portion of this potential will not be quick, simple, or easy, nor will it be unilateral and one-dimensional. A cohesive framework must be established and implemented -- one that is sound clinically, financially, and operationally and is based on demonstrated approaches." (Milliman)
Health Care Reform Update
Excerpt: "This is another in a series of regular health care reform updates from Spencer's Benefits Reports. Included are links to items already covered, brief summaries of actions taken by the federal government, recent reports and studies on health care reform, policy statements by major stakeholders, and other recent health care reform activity. Also covered today are comments made by President Barack Obama on June 24 at an ABC News health care forum." (Wolters Kluwer)
Senators Reportedly Near Agreement on Health Bill: Report Reducing Overall Cost But Not Resolving Issue of 'Public Option'
Excerpt: "Senate health-care negotiators said yesterday they were closing in on a $1 trillion health-care bill that would be fully funded by tax increases, Medicare cuts and new penalties for employers who do not offer health insurance. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said members of the panel would consider a menu of policy and financing options over the Fourth of July recess, with the goal of producing a deficit-neutral 10-year bill shortly after Congress returns July 6." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Changes to Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums: A Potential Source of Financing for Health Reform
Excerpt: "One of the challenges that Congress will face as it considers major health reform legislation this year will be identifying the necessary financing. Many have suggested that reducing or eliminating the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) could generate significant additional tax revenue to fund expansions in health insurance coverage. This paper focuses on two specific policy design elements: 1. a cap, or dollar limit, on the amount of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums excluded from taxable income; and 2. an index that determines how this cap might grow over time." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
[Opinion] Why Employers Should Share the Responsibility of Paying for Health Care (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "There are five reasons why it makes sense to require employers to contribute to the cost of coverage, which is known as an 'employer responsibility requirement': 1. Employer assessments help to level the playing field so that all employers do their fair share to pay for coverage. 2. An employer responsibility requirement will discourage employers from dropping coverage and keep needed dollars in the health care system. 3. Employers that currently pay a share of their employees' health insurance cover a large portion of employees' health bills. 4. Employer assessments have been helpful in places that have implemented them. 5. Job-based health coverage is priced more equitably than individual coverage." (Families USA)
Under Obama Health Reform Plan, Workers Can't Dump Employer-Provided Insurance
Excerpt: "Addressing a top health policy concern among employers, President Barack Obama said that employees would not be allowed to dump their job-based health coverage for a public plan, even if it were cheaper. Obama made his comments during a town hall meeting that aired the night of Wednesday, June 24, on ABC. 'One of the things that we've said is that if you are eligible for your employer plan, then you can't just go into the public plan,' he said. 'You can't decide that you're already having a pretty good deal in insurance and you're just going to dump that -- what's called a firewall.'" (Workforce Management; free registration required)
[Opinion] Who Says Employers Should Make Health Insurance Available to Employees? House Democrats Do
Excerpt: "The House Democratic leaders have unveiled a draft health care reform plan that includes, among the numerous other provisions (850 pages of them), an employer mandate. A summary of the plan indicates that 'employers have a responsibility to help make health insurance available for their employees. Businesses that do not offer health coverage to their workers have an unfair competitive advantage over businesses that cover their employees.'" (Health Reform Talk)
[Opinion] ERISA Preemption, Health Care Pay or Play, and the Supreme Court
Excerpt: "I have said it time and time again on this blog, that ERISA preemption serves the admirable, even if perhaps inadvertent, role of forcing health care to be tackled at the only level it can be adequately addressed, the federal one, and not at the level of state governments, which simply don't have the resources to pull it off . . . ." (Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)
Tracking the Money in the Health Care Debate
Excerpt: "Three huge bills are bubbling on Capitol Hill right now: financial regulation, a new energy policy and health care reform. It's a historic confluence of issues that, as a consequence, has the Capitol swarming with lobbyists and awash with money. NPR is launching a new investigative series to report on these Dollar Politics." (Morning Edition via National Public Radio)
Health Care Reform Legislation Could Bring Changes in the Way Employers Structure Group Health Plans
Excerpt: "[With a public plan,] Large employers would be subject to a pay-or-play mandate. They could choose to continue their existing plans, adjusting the benefit design and eligibility if needed to satisfy federal standards as well as subsidizing a portion of the cost of coverage to be determined by Congress. Employers failing to offer this minimum coverage and to adequately subsidize it would be required to make a per-employee payment to the government. Amounts currently under consideration are $6,000 per year or possibly 6% of payroll. One of the lead proposals under consideration in Congress provides that the employer would still be required to send the 'normal contribution' to the exchange for employees who declined to enroll in the employer's plan and instead obtained private coverage." (Towers Perrin)
Comparing the Impact of Selected Policy Options for Financing Health Reform
Excerpt: "A number of policies have been proposed to expand health insurance coverage and improve health system performance in a financially sustainable way. To illustrate how the potential impact of such reforms depends heavily on the details and structure of the reforms, the authors examine estimates from three sources: a recent Commonwealth Fund report containing projections prepared by The Lewin Group; the Office of Management and Budget; and the Congressional Budget Office. Estimates from all three sources indicate that early investments in reform could yield significant reductions in total health care spending over time through gains in the quality and efficiency of care." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Senators Worry That Health Overhaul Could Erode Employer Insurance Plans
Excerpt: "As part of an ambitious plan to overhaul the health care system, Democrats in both houses of Congress want to require people to carry insurance. They would offer subsidies to low- and moderate-income people who buy coverage through a new regulated market known as a health insurance exchange. Employers who do not provide coverage might have to pay penalties or contribute to a government fund. Higher penalties are more effective in preventing the erosion of employer-sponsored coverage, the bedrock of insurance for more than 150 million Americans, the Congressional Budget Office told lawmakers." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Setting a National Minimum Standard for Health Benefits: How Do State Benefit Mandates Compare with Benefits in Large-Group Plans?
Excerpt: "This issue brief considers what a broad federal minimum standard might look like by comparing existing state benefit mandates with the services and providers covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) Blue Cross and Blue Shield standard benefit package, an example of minimum creditable coverage that reflects current standard practice among employer-sponsored health plans. With few exceptions, benefits in the FEHBP standard option either meet or exceed those that state mandates require -- indicating that a broad-based national benefit standard would include most existing state benefit mandates." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Alternative Paths to a High Performance U.S. Health System
Excerpt: "A controversial part of the health reform debate is whether a new public insurance plan choice should be offered to the under-65 population. This report analyzes alternative paths to reform and presents estimates of impacts on health spending. The approaches include: 1) a public health plan paying providers at Medicare rates, offered alongside private plans in a national health insurance exchange; 2) a public plan paying providers at rates set midway between Medicare and private plan rates, offered alongside private plans in an insurance exchange; and 3) no public plan, with only private plans offered to employers and individuals through an insurance exchange. All three approaches, if combined with Medicare payment and system reform, would produce substantial savings over time, but option 1 would yield the most -- $3.0 trillion in cumulative health system savings over 2010 to 2020, compared with $2.0 trillion (option 2) and $1.2 trillion (option 3)." (The Commonwealth Fund)
[Opinion] Union Members Exempt from New Health Benefits Tax
Excerpt: "Union members and their families who receive healthcare benefits paid for by their employers would be exempted from a new tax on healthcare under one option being proposed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mt), according to a report by the Fox Business Channel's Peter Barnes. Baucus's plan would tax health care benefits to raise from $161.9 billion to $418 billion over ten years to fund the nationalized 'government provider' of health care benefits President Obama and Democrats want. Peter Barnes told me, 'There would be preferential treatment for unions' under one version of the Baucus proposal." (HUMAN EVENTS)
Obama Says Government Health Coverage Plan Would Not Hurt Private Insurers
Excerpt: "President Obama made a detailed case on Tuesday for a new government-administered health insurance plan, but he did not rule out signing a bill that lacks such an option if he cannot win enough support from Democrats in Congress. In a White House news conference, Mr. Obama dismissed as 'not logical' the suggestion that a public plan, which is intended to create more competition and therefore act as a brake on the rise of health insurance costs, would undermine the private insurance market. He argued that a government-run plan competing with private insurers would be an 'important tool to discipline insurance companies' and scoffed at complaints that it could drive some out of business." (The New York Times; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview] Supreme Court Review of San Francisco Health Insurance Mandate Sought by Restaurateurs
Excerpt: "The case involves San Francisco's 'fair share' ordinance, which requires employers with at least 20 employees to provide health coverage for their San Francisco workers. If they do not comply, employers must pay a fee to support city health clinics." (Law.com)
The Tri-Committee Draft Proposal for Health Care Reform
June 23, 2009. Excerpt: "The House Education and Labor Committee [held] a hearing on Tuesday, June 23 on the forthcoming draft proposal for health care reform developed by the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees. The draft proposal is designed to achieve President Obama's goals of controlling health care costs, preserving health care choices, and ensuring quality, affordable health care for all Americans." (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education & Labor)
Health Reform in the 21st Century: Proposals to Reform the Health System
June 24, 2009. Excerpt: "The focus of the hearing will be on the forthcoming proposal developed by the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor and other proposals to reform the health system." (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means)
Interactive Comparison Tool of Major Health Care Reform Proposals Now Includes House Tri-Committee, Senate HELP Bills
Excerpt: "The Kaiser Family Foundation recently updated the side-by-side comparison tool on its new health reform gateway page to include detailed summaries of new comprehensive health reform legislation proposed by the three key House committees (known as the 'Tri-Committee' bill) and from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. With the additions, the interactive online tool . . . now allows comparisons of nine major congressional health reform proposals, including those from the Senate Finance Committee; Sens. Tom Coburn and Richard Burr and Reps. Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes; Rep. John Conyers; Rep. John Dingell; Sen. Bernie Sanders; Rep. Pete Stark; and Sens. Ron Wyden and Bob Bennett." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
[Opinion] ERISA in the Crisis Zone
Excerpt: "In the employee benefits sector, seemingly removed from the catastrophic bank and stock crisis, the crisis zone still has yielded proposals like: Additional restrictions on 401(k) plans. A universal thrift plan that would severely erode the traditional 401(k). A universal health care system which would impose greater health care costs on employers, crowding out retirement and other benefit expenditures. This could possibly include mandated benefits. It could ultimately involve universal Medicare coverage or a government entity for the uninsured, obviously to be accomplished by increased payroll and income taxes. A major employee benefits debate would result in another nasty clash between traditional antagonists. We still have those who would support the old paradigm of equilibrium - the same people who have tried but failed to prevent continued innovation in employee benefits, as opposed those who have developed and promoted more flexible approaches." (Employee Benefit News via Passion for Subro)
Head of LDS Church's Insurance Company Tells U.S. House to Protect Work-Based Health Plans
Excerpt: "The president of the LDS Church's insurance company urged a House committee Tuesday to protect the employer-based health care system and warned against taxing those benefits as part of a proposed reform plan. [Michael Stapley appeared before the committee as the representative of the ERISA Industry Committee.] He said the industry-backed group is committed to health care reform that curbs costs, creates a nationwide insurance marketplace and requires everyone to have coverage, while providing help for the poor." (Salt Lake Tribune)
Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act Reintroduced
Excerpt: "Representative John Tierney (D-Mass.) has reintroduced the Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act (H.R. 1322), which would prevent employers from reducing or eliminating health benefits for retirees or their dependents. The bill has been around for years but has attracted more attention since it appeared in a pension bill last year. Under the act, employers could not make changes to their retiree health plans that would eliminate, reduce or limit benefits, increase out-of-pocket costs or make it more difficult to obtain medical care." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Covering Health Issues, 2009: Interactive Edition
Excerpt: "The latest edition of 'Covering Health Issues' is now complete online, made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. [The target page is the online version with interactive features]. To download a PDF duplicate of the print version, [go to http://www.allhealth.org/covering-health-issues-5th-edition/toc.asp]." (Alliance for Health Reform)
[Opinion] The Myth of Prevention in Health Care
Excerpt: "It is true that if the prevention strategies we are talking about are behavioral things -- eat better, lose weight, exercise more, smoke less, wear a seat belt -- then they cost very little and they do save money by keeping people healthy. But if your preventive strategy is medical, if it involves us, if it consists of screening, finding medical conditions early, shaking the bushes for high cholesterols, or abnormal EKGs, markers for prostate cancer such as PSA, then more often than not you don't save anything and you might generate more medical costs. Prevention is a good thing to do, but why equate it with saving money when it won't?" (The Wall Street Journal)
Senator Baucus Reportedly Considering Ways to Tax Health Benefits
Excerpt: "FOX Business claims to have obtained a five-page presentation, prepared by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), that proposes 'options to limit allowable tax free health benefits.' According to FOX Business the document lists four ways to tax benefits starting in 2013, when many reform proposals would take full effect . . . ." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Senate Finance Committee Might Revise Its Health Care Bill
Excerpt: "Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said on Sunday that the panel would consider revisiting its version of health-care legislation to gain more support." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Public Perspectives on Health Delivery System Reforms (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Public opinion indicates underlying support for greater emphasis on primary care, prevention, health information systems and other components of proposed health reform. However, there is also evidence of public concern (1) about the trustworthiness of health care products, providers, and sources of health information; (2) about privacy and confidentiality of medical records; (3) about consumers' capacity and willingness to take on greater responsibility for making health care decisions; and, (4) about the effects of reform on choice of providers and treatment options." (Health Care Financing and Organization)
House Democrats Outline Employer Mandate in Health Bill
Excerpt: "The 850-page proposal is meant to serve as the foundation for the work that the House health, commerce and tax committees will do over the next several weeks to develop a final health care measure by the end of July. Hearings are slated to begin June 23." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Obama To Formally Announce Medicare Drug Costs Cuts Today
Excerpt: "The pharmaceutical industry agreed Saturday to reduce Medicare drug costs as part of health overhaul in an apparent effort to stave off potentially more-burdensome givebacks under the Democrats' health-overhaul plan. Today, President Barack Obama will make a formal announcement about the deal. The Wall Street Journal reports: 'Drug makers on Saturday outlined a proposal to forgo $80 billion in revenue over a decade, largely by covering more of the cost of brand-name prescription drugs under the federal government program for seniors. It would make up part of the $313 billion in government health-spending cuts that President Barack Obama has proposed over a decade to help pay for the overhaul plan.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Democrats' New Health Plan Caps Confusing Week
Excerpt: "Top House lawmakers released yet another health-care plan Friday, illustrating the complexities bogging down Democrats' drive to overhaul the system this year. The plan from three key House committees has some important differences with a bipartisan bill taking shape in the Senate Finance Committee -- notably stricter regulations for employers, and a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. The House plan also left out details of how to pay for the expansion." (The Wall Street Journal)
Federal Health Care Reform: Resources
Excerpt: "NCSL provides news, information, and analysis on health reform activities in Congress and in Washington through the new Federal Health Care Reform web page." (National Conference of State Legislatures)
Factsheet: Investing in Health Coverage Makes Sense for Everyone (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Insured employees are healthier and more productive on the job. Therefore, investing in health coverage will make the workforce healthier and more productive. Higher productivity, in turn, will make the United States more competitive in the global economy. In addition, expanding coverage and making coverage more affordable will increase job mobility and make the labor market work more efficiently." (Families USA)
Miller & Chevalier/American Benefits Council 2009 Corporate Health Care Policy Forecast (PDF)
Excerpt: "While there are many parallels to last year's survey, the conclusions of the 2009 survey are dramatic. Regardless of their company's size, geography, industry or even the respondent's political affiliation, corporate benefits executives say they are concerned about several crucial health care policy matters. Industry professionals: Support an individual mandate; Overwhelmingly want improving quality to be a priority feature of health care reform; Do not support the establishment of a public health care plan; Do not want their employees taxed on the value their of employer-provided health benefits[.]" (American Benefits Council/Miller & Chevalier)
[Opinion] Health Care Reform Showdown
Excerpt: "The real risk is that health care reform will be undermined by 'centrist' Democratic senators who either prevent the passage of a bill or insist on watering down key elements of reform. I use scare quotes around 'centrist,' by the way, because if the center means the position held by most Americans, the self-proclaimed centrists are in fact way out in right field. What the balking Democrats seem most determined to do is to kill the public option, either by eliminating it or by carrying out a bait-and-switch, replacing a true public option with something meaningless. For the record, neither regional health cooperatives nor state-level public plans, both of which have been proposed as alternatives, would have the financial stability and bargaining power needed to bring down health care costs." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Health Care Cuts Could Shift Costs to Private Sector
Excerpt: "Unless doctors and hospitals are able to respond to the government cuts by becoming more efficient, the result could be higher costs for insurers, employers, and people with private medical coverage, [economists] say. Historically, health-care spending has been a bit like a balloon: If it is squeezed in one place, it tends to bulge in another. 'I think there's definitely risk that a portion of the reduction in hospital payments from Medicare will wind up as increased payments by private insurers,' said Paul B. Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
[Opinion] A Public Health Plan
Excerpt: "As the debate on health care reform unfolds, no issue has caused such partisan rancor -- and spawned such misleading rhetoric -- as whether to create a new public insurance plan to compete with private plans. The nation already has several huge public plans, including Medicare for the elderly (once reviled by conservatives, it is now only short of the flag in its popularity) and Medicaid for the poor. Now the issue is whether to establish a new public plan to encourage more competition among health insurers and provide Americans with an alternative." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Wide Support for Government-Run Health Care in Poll
Excerpt: "Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Health Insurance Reform and the 111th Congress (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "This report presents basic background on health insurance that may be useful to legislators considering health insurance reforms. It describes reform approaches and provides brief descriptions of health insurance reform bills introduced in the 111th Congress, as well as some of the general principles currently being considered by the Congress. The potential impact of the various approaches and bills is not analyzed in this report, however. As a result, it does not provide evaluations of how well different bills, once enacted, would meet their objectives." (U.S. Congressional Research Service)
[Opinion] Understanding Health Insurance Cooperatives
Excerpt: "For co-op proponents, a non-negotiable is they must be nonprofits. They take this position because of the Left's general animosity to profit-making entities -- especially when it comes to health care. But one of the least discussed elements in the current reform debate is that there are lots of nonprofits in the health care system, including hospitals and health insurers. And no one has shown that nonprofit hospitals and insurers provide their services for less. Indeed, some nonprofits will charge more than many for-profits." (Congressional Health Care Caucus)
[Guidance Overview] Update on Health Care Reform Legislation: Senate HELP Committee Bill (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee ('HELP Committee') released its draft of health care reform legislation in the form of a 615-page bill. The HELP Committee bill includes insurance market reforms that would affect individual and group insurance policies, some provisions that apply to self-funded plans, a new state 'Gateway' program through which individuals could obtain coverage from private insurers (and potentially a public plan option), a new requirement for individuals to obtain coverage, and new employer mandates. [This summary] highlights the major provisions that would impact employer health plans (the bill also includes provisions more directly applicable to health care providers)." (Groom Law Group)
Sweeping Health Care Reform Legislation's Debut Draws Ire of Employers
Excerpt: "But underneath the bristling, employers are trying to figure out what a good compromise might look like on key issues including taxing health benefits, employer mandates and a government-run option." (Workforce Management)
Employers Want Lawmakers to Focus on Health Care Cost and Service Quality, According to Survey
Excerpt: "A survey of benefits professionals showed concern that health care reform proposals may do more harm than good. A news release from Miller & Chevalier Chartered and the American Benefits Council (ABC) about their second annual Corporate Health Care Policy Forecast Survey said respondents contended lawmakers are not paying enough attention to service quality and costs in formulating policy changes. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they would like to see more focus on cost and 72% would like more focus on quality issues, the press release said." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Obama's Health Plan Needs Spending Controls, CBO Says
Excerpt: "President Obama's plan to expand health coverage to the uninsured is likely to dig the nation deeper into debt unless policymakers adopt politically painful controls on spending, such as sharp reductions in payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers, congressional budget analysts said . . . ." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
[Opinion] The Sleeper in Health Reform: Insurance Market Reforms Such As Eliminating Medical Underwriting
Excerpt: "Insurance market reforms are quite possibly the least controversial of all the issues in health reform, which is maybe why they've gotten less attention. But, they may also be the sleeper in the debate, at least for the public. Why is that? First, they directly address some of the biggest insecurities people have about health care, particularly in the current economy with millions losing their jobs and likely their health coverage as well." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
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