Public Insurance Choice Cuts Costs by $265 Billion

The Commonwealth Fund has a new report that projects a savings of $265 billion over 10 years if Congress adopts a health care plan that includes a choice between public and private health insurance plans.

"Health reform can help pay for itself, but both private and public insurance choices are critically important," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, who coauthored the new report. "A public insurance plan can help drive new efficiencies in the system that will produce large cost reductions. Without a public plan, much of those potential savings will be lost."

The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System has put forward a comprehensive set of policy options to achieve near-universal health insurance coverage while reforming the U.S. health care system to achieve nearly $3 trillion in savings by 2020. Central to this proposal is the creation of a national insurance exchange that would largely replace the individual and small-group insurance markets, offering families and business a choice of private or public plans with a benchmark standardized-benefit package.

Read the report here and tell us what you think...

Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition Fund supports H.R. 3200, the House bill which provides a choice between public and private health insurance plans and will provide universal coverage to all Americans.