Presidental Candidate Obama Announces Health Insurance Plan
Jun 06, 2007
It is virtually impossible to run for political office today without having a clear stance on the increasingly controversial health care issue in the United States. Senator and Presidential candidate Barak Obama has announced that his stance and believes that all Americans should have access to a universal health insurance system.
Mirroring many of the health care reform plans that have come before his, presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama last week unveiled his plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system, a plan which many are calling uninspiring. Obama, among the front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination looks to finance his plan which is estimated to cost between $50 and $65 billion annually primarily through a reversal of tax cuts for the wealthy implemented by the Bush Administration.
Suggesting that the emphasis placed on providing Americans with universal health care during the early 1990’s appeared to have been too politically dangerous for the time, Obama now points to the expansion of health care benefits in recent months by local and state lawmakers which suggests that the climate has changed and Americans are now ready to accept the necessary changes to offer reform within the health care industry. Obama further suggested that while pharmaceutical companies should play a role in health care reform, their efforts should be diminutive in comparison to the input currently had, calling upon government, businesses and consumers to ban together in the sharing of costs.
Funding for Obama’s health care reform package would come as a result of allowing President Bush’s tax cuts on dividends and capital gains and on those making in excess of $250,000 per year to expire in 2010 rather than allowing them to remain permanent as the Bush Administration is currently calling for. Additional monies to reinforce his plan would be generated by raising taxes on inheritances worth more than $7 million.
A large part of Obama’s health care reform package concerns funneling a large amount of money into medical record technology. A state-of-the-art electronic record keeping system is believed to offer monumental savings on health care costs as well as providing for the implementation of a more efficient health care system.
The problem as many see with the Obama plan for health care reform is that it does not offer universal health care and will leave many of the most vulnerable without medical insurance benefits. Unlike rival John Edward’s health care reform package and many other initiatives now pending on state levels, the Obama plan does not mandate medical insurance coverage. The Obama solution is aimed at lowering the cost of medical insurance coverage, making it more affordable and therefore more attainable to many. One of the components that the plan does share with many health care reform initiatives is the fact that it calls upon businesses to make a contribution toward employee medical insurance benefits.
Yet another component of the plan requires the issuance of medical insurance benefits to be offered on a guaranteed issue. By offering medical insurance coverage on a guaranteed issue basis, private insurance companies would forego the need and expense of medically underwriting all individual policies, making all those who apply eligible for coverage despite existing medical conditions. It is Obama’s belief that without the necessity of medically underwriting policies, private insurance companies would save additional monies which could then be offered to the consumer.
In a nutshell, the Obama plan would keep the private insurance market in tact, injecting additional funding to expand health care coverage. For individuals and families in need but unable to afford comprehensive medical insurance benefits, Obama’s plan would provide for subsidization of premiums offered on a sliding scale and based upon family or household income. Plan benefits would be similar to those now being offered to federal employees, and Obama has promised that his health care reform package would be in operational and in tact by the end of his first term as President.