• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Experts Disapprove Of Candidates Health Care Reform Plans

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 15:31 CDT

An expert review of the health care plans proposed by the two leading presidential candidates found neither plan would fully mend the nation’s broken health care system. 

The experts concluded that Republican John McCain’s plan would reduce the overall number of insured and leave 60 million Americans without coverage, while Democrat Barack Obama’s plan would be too costly and would create additional regulation.

The United States spends more on health care per capital than any other developed nation, yet Americans are not any healthier.  With 46 million Americans without health insurance, both candidates agree that significant reform is needed.

A survey of benefits managers released Tuesday also revealed widespread dissatisfaction with both plans.

"Rather than taxing workers' health benefits and compelling employers to provide coverage they can't afford, candidates should focus on initiatives to control costs and promote top quality care," said James Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, which represents employer-sponsored health plans.

Gail Wilensky of Project HOPE and Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute and colleagues said Obama's plan failed to address incentives that promote tests and other costly procedures that may not translate into health improvements. 

For most Americans, Obama has proposed a plan similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.  Wilensky’s team said that the most popular of these plans, offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, costs about $12,000 a year, premiums that "would not be affordable for many families without subsidies that are even greater than the government's current contributions”.

A less expensive $5,000-a year-plan offered to mail handlers has higher co-pays and deductibles, but offers fewer benefits, they noted in their report.  That plan "is probably not what the candidate's political base thinks he has promised," they wrote.

Senator John McCain's plan would likely have little immediate effect on the number of uninsured, and could ultimately add 20 million more, according to Thomas Buchmueller of the University of Michigan's business school and colleagues.

McCain’s plan would give a refundable tax credit to people who buy their own policy, encouraging Americans to move to a national market for nongroup insurance.   However, this "will tend to raise costs, reduce the generosity of benefits, and leave people with fewer consumer protections," the authors wrote.

"Studies suggest that many employers would be quick to drop health benefits.”

The American Benefits Council survey of 187 benefits managers found these managers want the candidates to place more of an emphasis on reducing costs and improving health quality.  

The results showed that 74 percent disliked McCain's proposal, while 46 percent disapproved of Obama's plan to require employers to "pay or play".

The report was published in the journal Health Affairs.

A review of Senator Obama’s plan, authored by Joseph Antos, Gail Wilensky and Hanns Kuttner, can be viewed at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.27.6.w462v2.

A review of Senator McCain’s plan, authored by Thomas Buchmueller, Sherry A. Glied, Anne Royalty and Katherine Swartz, can be viewed at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.27.6.w472v1.

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category