Jun 9 2009
CQ reports that details are emerging regarding House Democrats' Plan. "The health care overhaul under development by House Democrats would subsidize insurance premiums for families earning as much as four times the poverty level, while expanding Medicaid and improving its payments to health providers."
Staff from the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees - the three panels with jurisdiction over the bill - "have compiled a three-page outline of the legislation, which they call a 'tri-committee' proposal." According to the outline, the plan would require "individuals to obtain insurance and employers to help pay for it, and would create a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers." The plan also would make makes changes in the Medicare physician payment formula, eliminate "overpayments" to Medicare Advantage plans, and expand Medicaid.
"The House outline does not include specific proposals to raise money for a health overhaul, and it is not clear how House Democrats will pay for their legislation." The House Democratic Caucus is scheduled to discuss the outline at a Tuesday meeting" (Wayne, 6/9).
House Democrats' Health Overhaul Outline
Tri-Committee Outline (.pdf)
This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente. |