Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has co-sponsored a bill (S. 1278) with WV Senator Jay Rockefeller to create the Consumer's Choice Health Plan - a public health insurance plan that provides an affordable and accountable health insurance option for consumers.
Link to Bill Text
It creates a public health insurance plan option that can compete with private health insurance plans to provide low cost, quality health insurance coverage to everyone in the US.
It provides comprehensive health care coverage for adults and children, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
Individuals and employers can enroll in the plan, its open to everyone.
All health care providers who provide health care services under Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP will also participate in the Consumer's Choice Plan.
The Consumer's Choice Plan will adopt Medicare reforms - allowing patients to access the same quality, coordinated care now provided to Medicare patients.
The Consumer's Choice Plan will provide the same subsidies as the Health Exchange plan to help individuals and employers pay for premiums.
All aspects of the Consumer's Choice Plan will be transparent and enrollees will receive a personal annual statement about the services they received and payments made in the previous year.
Enrollees will receive all the information they need about their benefits coverage, providers in their area, and fee schedules.
The Plan will be managed by the Dept. of Health & Human Services and will be overseen by a newly created non-profit organization called "America's Health Insurance Trust". The Trust will be governed by board members, including members representing consumers. Individuals affiliated with private health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and others who may have a similar conflict of interest will not be allowed to serve on the board.
It sounds like an interesting plan, one worth considering and one likely to provide much cheaper health insurance coverage to Americans.
I think it's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how anyone who has worked in the medical field can say with a straight face, "...allowing patients access to the same quality, coordinated care now provided to medicare patients".
Anyone who has worked in the health field an dealt with Medicare will tell you that there is nothing quality nor coordinated about how they operate.
Amy
I would suggest you ask any uninsured person whether they would like to have access to Medicare coverage.
ReplyDeleteI'd wager most of them would.
Ask anyone whose private insurance plan has dropped them due to illness, pre-existing condition, or whose plan has reached its lifetime max for payout. Chances are, they would be happy with Medicare, too.
The current system is failing a large percentage of the population. As taxpayers and citizens of the US, they have a right to choose between private and public insurance. Don't you think that's only fair?