Editorials Respond To Recent Health Insurance Coverage Expansion Proposals
- Saturday, December 23, 2006, 11:18
- Health Insurance
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The following summarizes recent editorials on proposals to expand health insurance coverage in the U.S.
- Chicago Tribune: A recent proposal by an Illinois task force that would require every state resident to have health insurance is an “intriguing effort,” but it would be “breathtakingly expensive,” a Tribune editorial states. According to the editorial, the proposal “would cost state government $3.6 billion and private employers $1.5 billion more a year” and would “require everyone to have comprehensive health coverage.” The Massachusetts health insurance law “is expected to give employers and consumers some options to buy high-deductible, no-frills coverage, which is much less expensive,” the editorial says, adding, “The point: Some coverage is better than none.” The editorial concludes that “the best hope for better access to health care” is “innovative thinking … in the states, including Illinois” (Chicago Tribune, 12/18).
- Des Moines Register: “Though President Bush has pushed them and Congress has expanded them, high-deductible health care plans apparently aren’t improving care or coverage in the United States,” a Register editorial states. A recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Commonwealth Fund found that consumer-driven health plans “appear to be undermining quality of care,” according to the editorial. In addition, the study found that people enrolled in consumer-driven plans are “less likely to have information on cost and quality” and are less likely to be satisfied with their coverage than people with conventional policies, the editorial says. It concludes, “If people with ‘consumer-driven’ plans decide to save a little money by ignoring chest pain, they might drive themselves right into costly heart surgery” (Des Moines Register, 12/18).
- Eugene Register-Guard: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who plans to introduce legislation that would guarantee health insurance for all U.S. residents, is “clearly aiming for comprehensive reform … but not at the cost of junking the existing system and starting over from scratch,” a Register-Guard editorial states. “This is a complex proposal that’s certain to contain something to upset all special interests — including those that insist on more radical health care reform,” the editorial says. “But one thing … is undeniable: If Wyden’s plan were in place today, the richest nation in the world would not carry the shame of 47 million of its citizens having no health insurance. That fact alone makes Wyden’s plan better than the status quo,” the editorial concludes (Eugene Register-Guard, 12/17).
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The cost of maintaining current government health insurance programs “seems to us an argument for comprehensive health care reform, rather than another single program, Band-Aid approach,” a Post-Intelligencer editorial states. “What’s more, we think the next Congress must stick to its pay-as-you go promise,” the editorial says, adding, “That means any new federal spending will require offsetting spending cuts or tax increases.” The editorial concludes, “The fact is large segments of our society are already covered by federal health care programs — the elderly (Medicare), the poor (Medicaid) and a growing number of children with this health insurance program. Perhaps it’s time to take the next steps” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 12/18).
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