I had expected the House version of healthcare reform to be more liberal than the Senate version, and it is.
A draft released Friday calls for the creation a public health plan that would pay providers Medicare rates for at least three years. The House bill also calls for individual health insurance reforms such as guaranteed issue and community rating as well as the creation of a national health insurance exchange that over time would be opened to all employers. The House also calls for subsidies for people earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level.
Compare that to the version out of the powerful Senate Finance Committee (see prior post): No public plan, subsidies for people earning up to 300% of the federal poverty level and “adjusted community rating,” with rate variation capped at 7.5 to one.
What’s interesting is that even at this late stage in the debate, most Americans seem to favor the House approach. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, Americans “are strongly behind…a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.” The poll (sample size 895) also found that Americans view getting everyone covered as being more important than controlling healthcare costs.
Subscribe in RSS Reader
