The Kaiser Family Foundation has looked at the all of the proposals so far to change health care and offers a useful side-by-side comparison. Given the lack of details from the president, Kaiser provided the following footnote.
*President Obama’s health reform proposal reflects the eight principles he announced in February 2009. As a candidate, President Obama released a more detailed health reform proposal.
To be fair, Kaiser was able to provide information on some elements of the plan, but in the following six ares, the best they could offer was “Not specified.”
- Employer requirements
- Premium subsidies to employers
- Tax changes related to health insurance
- Benefit design
- State role
- Long-term Care
Even the president’s latest “plan” is more promises and platitudes than policy proposals. It does offer a bit more detail on two items. 1) Employers with more than 50 employees would be required to provide insurance or pay a tax (labeled a fee). 2) Insurance companies would pay a new tax for high-value insurance policies. There is also a small role for states in pilot programs for medical malpractice changes, but not enough to indicate what role the states will have in the Obama system.
NOTE: No dictionaries were used to draft this post.
