Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Medicare ‘Buy-In’ Huge Delay to Health Care Debate
The Medicare buy-in plan announced last week is the new alternative public option plan that is currently arousing more debate among Democrats as well as losing Democrat votes. This new plan comes from a compromise that surfaced last week from Senate Democrats changing their federal health insurance plan that would compete with private insurance companies.
The Medicare buy-in plan would allow people between the age of 55 to 64, purchase health insurance from private nonprofit plans. This age group is often left without insurance when they are dropped from their employers plans. However, these plans have would create large premiums and also pay health care providers less for their services, causing louder outcries from the health care provider industry.
Many liberals are in support of the plan but that negates the support of Democrats who will not vote on this plan along with Republicans. Right now Senate lawmakers are awaiting the estimated costs of the new plan from the Congressional Budget Office and these costs will sway many lawmakers on the fence.
This compromise does little to ease opposition to the federal health insurance plan, and has increased fear of the single-payer plan among the debating Senators.
Now, it looks like the idea might be abandoned altogether.
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