Bottom line will propel Wyden's health-care solution
Saturday, May 3, 2008 11:31 PM PDT
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Sen. Ron Wyden has been working for at least a couple of years now in an attempt to push a plan that would provide universal health care up a steep legislative hill. The Oregon Democrat has worked both sides of the aisle to muster support for the so-called Healthy Americans Act. Wyden’s held off on endorsing a candidate for his party’s 2008 presidential nomination, knowing he’ll have to work closely with the next White House to succeed with this reform.
The senator’s diligent work has begun to pay off. His reform bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, has gained considerable traction in recent months. We expect the legislation to gain considerable momentum in weeks and months ahead. The Wyden-Bennett bill may have received its biggest boost to date with Thursday’s release of a new congressional report that claims this plan for universal coverage would pay for itself.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation evaluated the health-care plan and found that it would become revenue-neutral two years after it became fully operational and eventually generate budget surpluses. The report confirmed what Wyden has been saying all along — that providing universal health coverage need not require a big investment of tax dollars. This plan, he insisted, would not cost taxpayers, workers or employers any more than they are now paying for health care.
The Wyden-Bennet plan, in fact, would likely reduce health-care spending. An earlier review of the plan by a Virginia-based health-care consulting firm, The Lewin Group, concluded that it could reduce the costs of private employers by nearly three-quarters and save about $1.4 trillion in total national health-care spending over the next 10 years.
The plan draws heavily from the recommendations of a Citizens’ Health Care Working group, created in 2005 by Sens. Wyden and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, as a way to learn what kind of health-care system the American people wanted and would support. It found that citizens wanted universal health care. This plan was crafted to provide coverage for all Americans except those covered under Medicare of through the military. It would allow workers to carry their health insurance from job to job. They, not their employers, would be purchasing the insurance plans.
This would be accomplished by requiring employers to cash out of existing health plans and give the money saved to workers through increased wages. Workers would have to use the additional wages to purchase health insurance from a large pool of private insurers. After two years, employers would no longer be required to pay the additional wages. They, instead, would pay into an insurance pool with the amount paid based on annual revenues and the employer’s number of full-time workers.
The plan has won the support of a wide range of interest groups, including the Service Employees International Union, the head of Safeway Inc. and the National Federation of Independent Business. Thursday’s CBO report will likely bring more interests and lawmakers onboard.
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