Don't confuse President Barack Obama's health care plan with national healthcare. Far from being universal-where citizens pay a small monthly or annual fee for quality public health insurance without ‘copays'-Obama is proposing to reform the existing private healthcare system that middle to lower class Americans have come to hate.
The $50-$65 billion plan, which includes public and private insurance plans for Americans, is known as two-tiered healthcare.
"My plan begins by covering every American," Obama says in a ‘Blueprint for Change: Health Care' video on barackobama.com. "That's the commitment I'm making to you, the American people, and that's the plan I'll sign into law at the end of my first term as the President of the United States of America."
The Obama-Biden health reform will extend private health coverage to Americans in two ways: the plan will require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions and will offer subsidies to those who cannot afford to pay their premiums.
"For the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance, you will have health insurance that is available to you," Obama continued. "No one will be turned away because of a pre-existing condition or illness."
Perhaps the most anticipated and speculated part of Obama's plan is the establishment of a National Health Insurance Exchange that will include both private and public affordable health plans emulated on benefits available to members of Congress. The public health plan included in the Exchange would be a first of it's kind for the country.
"Everyone will be able to buy into a new health insurance plan that is similar to one that every federal employee from a postal worker in Iowa to a congressman in Washington currently has for themselves," Obama explained.
The public plan includes high quality coverage of all essential medical services including preventative, maternity, disease management, and mental healthcare transferable from job to job. The plan also includes a government health tax credit to small business owners who provide insurance to their employees.
"My health care plan won't impose a single new burden on small business," Obama promised. "Instead, we'll give them tax credits that will cover up to 50 percent of the cost of insuring their employees," he said, adding that small business owners will have access to purchasing coverage from a new low-risk insurance pool.
Obama's plan also gets tough on insurance companies by targeting monopolistic practice. Big Pharma that tries to prevent generic medicines from entering the market will be subject to government oversight, and corporations that don't offer coverage will be mandated to pay a portion of payroll toward employee health care.
In fact, much of the funding for the health reform is coming from the pockets of America's wealthiest.
"Barack Obama will pay for his $50-$65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level," the President's health reform website reads.
For those keen on keeping their current private insurance, Obama has promised to cut premiums by up to $2,500 annually, money that will be saved by investing in prevention, importing generic drugs, and implementing a digital-record health system that will cut administrative costs. With Canada already in transition mode to digitize their health records, Obama is looking into the future.
According to The Guardian, Britain's National Health Service (NHS) -- providing universal healthcare since World War II -- is facing a 10 percent government-induced budget deficit this year that forces the crown corporation to cut costs of 15 billion pounds over the next 5 years. The NHS is tackling their budget woes in an unconventional way: 20 million pounds in incentives for anyone, from scientist to nurse to Joe Six Pack, who can invent new treatments for dementia or improving hospital hygiene.
With a two-tiered health care system that invests millions today in strategies to reduce preventable medical errors and passing legislation that requires hospitals to collect and report health care costs and quality data, the Obama administration is hoping to avoid having to play ‘who wants to be a millionaire' with nurses and instead save billions in the long-run.
According to politico.com, President Obama will meet with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, and Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) Wednesday at the White House to discuss health care reform. Baucus and Grassley are two of the key players in engineering the Senate health care bill, which they hope to complete by June.
Here's hoping we don't have to wait another three-and-a-half-years for a revision of the old system.
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