Click here to listen to an NPR story about Oregon Senator Ron Wyden’s “Healthy Americans Act.”  Details about the legislation: 

The Healthy Americans Act

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has introduced a bill that would guarantee all Americans the right to private health coverage. The legislation proposes that access to health insurance should not depend on an individual’s employment.
 
Expanding Coverage: Tax benefits and premium reductions written into the bill are designed to help citizens afford private health plans. Health problems, occupation, genetic information, gender and age will no longer be allowed to impact eligibility or increase insurance costs.
 
Employers who currently provide employee health benefits will be required to convert their health-care premiums into higher wages. Employees can use these increased wages to purchase their own private health insurance.
 
Promoting Competition: The bill relies on competition between insurers to drive down costs and promote quality. Individuals will no longer be grouped according to their employers, so in theory, the pool of health-care consumers will be expanded.
 
State Coordination: Each state, with funding from the federal government and insurance companies, will establish a “Health Help Agency.” Health Help Agencies will coordinate insurance payments from employers, individuals and the government.
 
Focus on Prevention: The legislation’s proposed system provides a financial incentive to insurance companies to keep their subscribers healthy; individuals will be more likely to stick with an insurer that is providing good preventive care. Subscribers will also be rewarded when they or their children successfully participate in wellness programs. It is expected that better preventive care will avoid spending taxpayer dollars on expensive visits to the emergency room.

Decoupling health insurance from employers is the lynchpin of health care reform.  “Requiring” employers to convert high premiums into higher wages seems heavy handed and betrays a total lack of confidence in free market principles.

• And you wonder why health insurance is so expensive
• Employer provided health insurance is a bad thing
• The flip side of Riley’s health insurance tax break
• Nannycrat John Edwards wants to control your life
• Adding Competition to Health Care

This entry was posted by Brian on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.