President Obama’s Proposal
Below is a brief overview of Obama’s Proposal and the opposition to reform.
Visit the White House Website for Details
Brief overview of the President’s Bill:
- The Senate bill is the core of the President’s Proposal
- Middle class tax cut that will reduce premiums for families and small business owners, making coverage more affordable and accessible-reaching more than 31 million Americans
- A health insurance exchange will be set up so that Americans can choose from different insurance companies, increasing competition based on cost and quality. This will be the same options that Members of Congress have. With an insurance exchange, there will be more regulation and standardization on health insurance practices.
- More accountability to health care-insurance companies,rules that will prevent increasing premiums and denial of care (including pre-existing condition)
- In the first ten years, reform will reduce the deficit by $100 Billion
For detailed summaries of the actual bill, the KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation)comparison web page is better than most. For actual bill language, always visit Thomas.
Bring the House and Senate Ideas Together:
- Allows for additional federal funding for all states to expand Medicaid
- Closes the Medicare “Donut Hole” coverage gap: Medicare stops paying for prescription drugs after the plan and beneficiary have spent $2830, Medicare starts to pay again after the out of pock expenses have reached $4550. Seniors end up paying full price for drugs and usually will not end up purchasing, harming their health
- Increases the excise tax for expensive health plans, $23,000 to $27,500, (2018, for all plans)
- Supports the provisions to eliminate fraud, abuse, and waste in Medicare and Medicaid
- Establish Health Insurance Rate Authority-will review unreasonable rate increases and unjustifiable health insurance practices
Topics of opposition:
-Abortion
-Mistrust between the Senate and the House
-Immigration
-Using reconciliation as a tactic
