Baird brings solid vision of health-care future to Longview
Saturday, May 31, 2008 11:32 PM PDT
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The health care reform Congressman Brian Baird ran past a panel of health care professionals in Longview on Thursday merits our close attention. The Washington Democrat’s bill and similar legislation co-sponsored in the Senate by Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden may preview the nation’s future health care system. The bills are gaining considerable traction on Capitol Hill, with support coming from both sides of the aisle.
The legislation’s appeal is easy to understand. The plan put forward by Baird and Wyden would provide universal health coverage without a big investment of tax dollars. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation recently evaluated the Senate version and found that it would become revenue-neutral two years after it became fully operational, and eventually generate budget surpluses.
An earlier review of the Senate bill by a Virginia-based health-care consulting firm, The Lewin Group, concluded that the plan could reduce the current health-care costs of private employers by nearly three-quarters. The firm also calculated that the reform would save about $1.4 trillion in national health-care spending over the next 10 years.
The legislation would require employers to cash out of existing health plans and give the money they spend on those benefits 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. The amount an employer paid into the pool would be based on annual revenues and the number of full-time employees.
Workers would be selecting and purchasing health plans tailored to meet their needs. Accordingly, the plan could be expected to empower individual consumers, assuring more competition among insurers. As Baird noted, more competition and larger groups of people insured would likely lead to lower insurance costs.
Are there concerns about what the plan wouldn’t provide? Certainly. Health professionals at Thursday’s forum worried about the lack of mental health and dental coverage. On balance, though, panel members were complimentary. We, too, have been impressed by what we’ve heard about this legislation. Indeed, it appears to be the most meaningful and politically doable health care reform on the table.
cheney119 wrote on Jun 1, 2008 9:20 AM:
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