Health care reform surely will be welcome by uninsured Americans, including those with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease. But we’re going to have quite a fight on our hands to get it passed.
Recently some Republicans in Congress reluctantly admitted that Americans genuinely want health care reform. So, rather than just say no to the Democrats’ ideas, these Republicans — representatives Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Devin Nunes (Calif.), and senators Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Richard Burr (N.C.) — presented their own health care reform proposals.
According to Janet Adamy at The Wall Street Journal, the GOP plan would eliminate the tax break employers get for providing health benefits to their employees. Health care benefits would become taxable income, subject to payroll taxes.
No, I’m serious. That’s the plan.
Instead, the government would give tax credits to individuals purchasing their own health coverage. Republicans are talking about an annual tax credit of $2,300 to each individual and $5,700 to each family that would offset the cost of health insurance — a cost that averages between $10,000 and $12,000 per family.
On the other hand, the Republican plan also calls for the establishment of state health insurance exchanges that would provide a “one-stop marketplace” to shop for private insurance. Insurers in the exchange would be required to sell insurance to anyone, regardless of age or health status, and regulators would see to it that companies do not cherry-pick customers. This is a big departure from the plan GOP presidential candidate John McCain offered last year. McCain’s plan had no provision whatsoever for people insurance companies refused to insure.
Writing for the Washington Post, Ezra Klein is encouraged that Republicans are endorsing insurance exchanges. “Like Democrats, they’re arguing that individuals cannot successfully navigate the insurance market, and they need the protection of government regulation and the bargaining power that comes from a large risk pool,” Klein writes.
May 21, 2009
Barbara O’Brien
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