US Healthcare Reform Updates
Since being seated, President Barack Obama has made the US healthcare reform his top legislative priority, allowing the $2.5 trillion healthcare system its biggest changes in four decades. Republicans oppose this legislation solidly and have warned to slow matters down with new procedural roadblocks, but House and Senate Democrats continue to negotiate to resolve disparities between the two healthcare bills and merge them. After melding those into one, it must be passed once more by each chamber before it can be signed by Obama.
The following are some of the House and Senate bills’ similarities and major differences which must be resolved:
With regard to the insurance market reform, both versions seek to halt such practices as excluding people with pre-existing conditions from insurance policies, create exchanges where small businesses and individuals with no employer-sponsored health benefits will be able to shop for coverage and get cheap health insurance quotes. Both would also place limits on insurers’ expenditures on administrative profits and costs. The House bill will allow up to twice the charge on insurance for older people compared to younger policy holders, while the Senate bills will allow up to three times the charge for the same. The House bill will allow young people to be included in their parents’ insurance plans till age 27; the Senate bill will allow the same until age 26.
The House bill will create a “public option,” a new government health insurance plan that meets the same coverage requirements that private insurers have; the Senate bill stipulates no public option. Both bills will create nonprofit cooperatives to provide members medical coverage.
There is a major difference between the two bills in terms of financing, in that the House bill will impose a 5.4% surtax to millionaires and raise money through a 2.5% excise tax imposed on medical devices. The Senate bill includes, among others, special fees on drug companies, medical device makers, and insurers, along with a 10% tax imposed on indoor tanning.
With regard to abortion, both bills will bar the use of federal funds in paying for an abortion. The Senate bill aims to make Medicaid available to all with incomes reaching up to 133% of the poverty level, while the House bill aims to do the same for those with incomes up to 150% of the poverty level. Both bills will require most individuals to acquire health insurance, imposing penalties on those who refuse.
The House bill will require employers having payrolls exceeding $750,000 to provide coverage to workers, imposing a penalty on those who do not. The Senate bill will require that large firms having more than 50 workers pay a $750 annual fine per worker if any employee obtains federally subsidized exchange coverage.
All differences between the bills aside, the aim of the reform is to ensure that the final bill treats all states equally, providing affordable health insurance coverage especially for the middle class. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are doing their best to speed up the process to get the bill to President Barack Obama’s desk as soon as possible to sign into law.
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