Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Oregon senator prepares universal health coverage plan


Posted 12/13/2006 11:17 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — A dozen years after Congress rejected a Clinton administration plan for universal health care, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is readying a proposal to provide health care coverage to all Americans through a pool of private insurance plans.

"Employer-based coverage is melting away like a Popsicle on the sidewalk in August," said Wyden, a Democrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee's subcommittee on health care.

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 reform health care.

The group, created in 2003 by legislation sponsored by Wyden and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, recommended that the government take steps to guarantee all Americans have basic health insurance coverage by 2012.

Wyden said his plan would allow workers to carry their health insurance from job to job without penalty and would cost the federal government no more than it's paying today for health insurance coverage. It would cover all Americans except those on Medicare or those who receive health care through the military.

Called the "Healthy Americans Act," the plan 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.

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.

The Lewin Group, a Virginia-based health care consulting firm that reviewed Wyden's plan, said it would reduce health spending by private employers by nearly three-quarters, and would save $1.4 trillion in total national health care spending over the next decade.

Increases in premium payments for individuals and families would be offset by higher wages and subsidies provided under the plan, the report said. As an example, Wyden cited a worker who earned $60,000 last year, and received about $12,000 worth of health care coverage.

The worker's health insurance would be terminated, but his salary would increase to $72,000, which would cover his health care coverage. The plan would bar workers from buying a "bare-bones" health package and pocketing the savings, Wyden said.

"You can't take your $9,000 and go to Hawaii," Wyden said, adding that the tax code would be adjusted so that workers who earn more money would not be thrust into a higher tax bracket.

Wyden said he's aware of the political pitfalls of health care reform, but believes the time has come to address the issue again.

"I think the country wants health care fixed," he said, citing skyrocketing costs and an estimated 46 million people who are uninsured. "There's been lots of rhetoric and position papers. It's time for action."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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