By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
WASHINGTON – Without waiting for President-elect Barack Obama, Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, will unveil a detailed blueprint on Wednesday to guarantee health insurance for all Americans by facilitating sales of private insurance, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and requiring most employers to provide or pay for health benefits.
Aides to Mr. Obama said they welcomed the Congressional efforts, had encouraged Congress to take the lead and still considered health care a top priority, despite the urgent need to address huge problems afflicting the economy.
The plan proposed by Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, would eventually require everyone to have health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies for those who could not otherwise afford it.
Other Democrats with deep experience in health care are also drafting proposals to expand coverage and slow the growth of health costs. These lawmakers include Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representatives John D. Dingell of Michigan and Pete Stark of California.
The proposals are all broadly compatible with Mr. Obama’s campaign promises. But Mr. Baucus’s 35,000-word plan would go further than Mr. Obama’s in one respect, eventually requiring all people – not just children – to have coverage.
“Every American has a right to affordable, high-quality health care,” Mr. Baucus said. “Americans cannot wait any longer.” Far from being a distraction from efforts to revive the economy, he said, “health reform is an essential part of restoring America’s economy and maintaining our competitiveness.”
Mr. Baucus would create a nationwide marketplace, a “health insurance exchange,” where people could compare and buy insurance policies. The options would include private insurance policies and a new public plan similar to Medicare. Insurers could no longer deny coverage to people who had been sick. Congress would also limit insurers’ ability to charge higher premiums because of a person’s age or prior illness.
People would have a duty to obtain coverage when affordable options were available to all through employers or through the insurance exchange. This obligation “would be enforced, possibly through the tax system,” the plan says.
In an interview with CNN just four days before the election, Mr. Obama said his top priorities would be fixing the economy and promoting energy independence. But he added: “Priority No. 3 would be health care reform. I think the time is right to do it.”
Advisers to Mr. Obama said they expected him to take swift action on two fronts. First, they said, he will probably revoke a Bush administration directive that sharply restricted states’ ability to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. In addition, they said, he will support Congressional efforts to expand the program before March 31, 2009, when at least 42 states are projected to exhaust their allotments of federal money.
Ronald F. Pollack, the executive director of Families USA, a liberal-leaning consumer group that has worked closely with Congress and the Obama team, said, “The prospects for meaningful health care reform have never looked better.” Among Mr. Obama’s health care strategists, Mr. Pollack said, are former Senator Tom Daschle; Jeanne M. Lambrew, a former Clinton aide; Neera Tanden, who was director of domestic policy for the Obama campaign; and Representative Rahm Emanuel, who will be White House chief of staff.
In his plan, Mr. Baucus makes these proposals:
* People age 55 to 64 should be able to buy Medicare coverage if they do not have access to a public insurance program or a group health plan. More than four million people in this age group are uninsured.
* Medicaid would be available to everyone below the poverty level, providing at least seven million more people with access to the program. In many states, adults with incomes well below the poverty level – $17,600 for a family of three – are ineligible for Medicaid.
* The State Children’s Health Insurance Program would be expanded to cover all uninsured youngsters in families with incomes at or below 250 percent of the poverty level ($44,000 for a family of three). This would raise the income limit in about half the states.
Mr. Baucus would also make it easier for many legal immigrants to qualify for Medicaid and the children’s health program. Under current law, such immigrants are generally barred from the programs in their first five years in the United States. He would lift that ban.
More than half of all Americans receive coverage through employers, and Mr. Baucus said he wanted to halt the erosion of such coverage. He would offer tax credits to small businesses to help them defray the costs of providing health benefits to employees.
To make insurance more affordable for those who buy coverage on their own, Mr. Baucus would offer tax credits to individuals and families with incomes at or below four times the poverty level ($70,400 for a family of three). Only 10 percent of the uninsured have incomes above that level, he said.