Senator Ron Wyden’s Health Care plan has gotten a fair amount of press (google.) But, I’ve been leery. I heard he was inspired by the Massachusetts plan requiring everyone to buy Health Insurance like we do car insurance.

Well, I’m not a car. It’s possible that I’ll go the rest of my life without a car accident. But, I’ve got Diabetes, so I’m pretty sure I’ll have health problems. And I’m guessing the insurance companies know that about me. Why my health care needs should follow the same pattern as my automobile needs — I don’t know.

Still, am I close to sacrificing the “good enough” for the “perfect”? I’ve been worrying about that. So when I stumbled on Wyden’s own explanation (at The Huffington Post), I was pretty excited.

Here’s his summary (read more):

My plan, known as the Healthy Americans Act, would provide universal coverage to every American, and would cost no more than what we, as a nation, are paying right now. Not only that, under my proposal every single American would have a health plan as good as what Members of Congress currently receive at taxpayer expense.

Here’s how it works. Employers who provide employee health benefits would be required for two years to convert their workers’ health care premiums into higher wages. Those employers who don’t currently offer health benefits would have to make phased-in “Employer Shared Responsibility Payments,” which would be used to provide financial assistance to individuals and families of modest income. After those two years are up, all employers will make “Employer Shared Responsibility Payments,” the size of which would be determined by their relative ability to pay.

Employees, in turn, would have to purchase private health coverage, and to ensure that it’s affordable, the plan would fully subsidize the premiums for those who live below the poverty line. Those people between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line would also receive subsidies on a sliding scale to help pay their premiums.

As for the insurance companies, they would no longer be allowed to “cherry pick” their customers. Under the current system, insurance companies can pick and choose which customers they sign up – typically the healthy ones – and send those in fragile health to government programs more fragile than they are. I propose in the Healthy Americans Act that insurance companies be required to cover every individual who chooses to enroll and that they be prohibited from raising prices or denying coverage if individuals are sick or are at risk of becoming sick.

That’s my plan in a nutshell. So what next? How do we proceed from here?

What’s Health Insurance for?

And what I want to know is, Why do we keep having to pay insurance companies to pay our medical bills? Why do we have to continue to involve them in our health care decisions?

And I’ll tell you – I think this is another one of those ideas where a really rich person thinks paying health care premiums & co-pays & meeting deductables isn’t a big deal. This plan sounds like he’s madating more of the same.

It sounds to me that middle class families don’t have any protection against rising prices. What happens if we can’t afford to pay our bills (but aren’t poor enough for the help he’s describing) — would we go to jail?
But the other thing I want to know is — would we be better off than we are now?

A couple of sentences from Wyden’s statement jumped out at me:

• (snip) Not only that, under my proposal every single American would have a health plan as good as what Members of Congress currently receive at taxpayer expense.
• (snip) Those people between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line would also receive subsidies on a sliding scale to help pay their premiums.
• (snip) I propose in the Healthy Americans Act that insurance companies be required to cover every individual who chooses to enroll and that they be prohibited from raising prices or denying coverage if individuals are sick or are at risk of becoming sick.

First of all, I think that talking about money in terms of percent of the poverty level is deliberately vague. Who knows what it is? They talk about families of 4 — but what if you live alone? What if it’s just you and a spouse? And what is 400 percent?

I ask because when you consider premiums, deductables & co-payments the costs could add up fast. And our millionaire Congressmen don’t seem to understand how difficult it is to live on less than $30,000 — even if you don’t have children.

Still — maybe anything is better than what we’ve got. (sigh)

Health Care Quick Links

AFL-CIO Executive Council statement:

We call on congressional leaders to unite behind such a plan.

Unlike our fragmented and flawed health care system, a successful universal health care system would provide benefits and cost savings for all stakeholders. The leadership to make comprehensive reform possible, then, must come from all quarters:

• Governments will have to forge the tough consensus that commits necessary public funding while paying only for care that is effective and efficient, based on the best science available.
• Employers must provide strong political support for a transition away from the current employment-based system and be willing to provide continuing financial contributions sufficient to responsibly contribute to the new funding requirements.
• Unions and other organizations that represent users of health services must make enactment of comprehensive health reform legislation a top priority and make a long-term commitment to improving health care service delivery.
• Health care providers and practitioners need to commit their leadership and lend their knowledge and experience to achieving necessary improvements in the quality and effectiveness of care, and use their considerable political clout to support the effort.

PNHP, Physicians for a National Health Plan

California Nurses Association