I've seen this touted as a universal healthcare bill, but I don't quite see how it is. Mostly it seems to ensure that people can change jobs and still have health insurance. I'd welcome an explanation about how this bill would increase the health care coverage to all Americans. Associated Press:
Wyden's proposal, which he planned to unveil on Wednesday, is an outgrowth of work by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, a 14-member panel that went to 50 communities around the country and heard from 28,000 people about how to overhaul the nation's health care system.
...
Wyden said his new plan would allow workers to carry their health insurance from job to job without penalty. More efficient administration and more promotion of competition for health care plans, he said, would allow greater coverage while costing no more than the government is paying today for health insurance coverage.
Called the "Healthy Americans Act," the plan would cover all Americans except those on Medicare or those who receive health care through the military.
It would require that employers "cash out" their existing health plans by terminating coverage and paying the amount saved directly to workers as increased wages. Workers then would be required to buy health insurance from a large pool of private plans. [This is the key paragraph that I was missing - Matt]
After two years, companies would no longer have to pay the higher wages. Instead, Wyden said, they would pay into an insurance pool, based on annual revenues and the number of full-time workers.
It's a good sign that Andy Stern of SEIU supports the Wyden bill.
"Our employer based health care system is a relic of a national and industrial economy. Today, America cannot compete in a global economy when we put the price of health care on the cost of our products, and our competitor nations do not. It is a failed job creation, trade, and economic policy, not to mention the moral dimension of the uninsured and underinsured.
"It is time for fundamental, not incremental change, and Senator Wyden has a plan that is practical and principled, and sets down a moral test: Why doesn't every American have the right to the same health care as the President, the Vice President, 535 members of Congress, and 3 million Federal workers?
"On behalf of the 1.9 million members of SEIU and their families, and as the largest union of health care workers, we believe Senator Wyden has made a critical contribution to the debate that Congress must attend to next year. Americans are sick and tired, and cannot afford to wait any longer for change."
I still need to see some details on this before I can pass judgement.
Update: BlueOregon has this explanation:
The plan would end employer-based health care, replacing it with a system of universal private insurance. |
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