The Power of A

In an effort to gain the 60 votes needed for passage, moderate Democratic Senators leaked a potential compromise yesterday that would remove the public option from the Senate health care bill and replace it with a larger Medicare pool.

The proposal would be to replace the public option language in the bill with a provision allowing Americans as young as 55 with no insurance to be eligible to buy into Medicare, the federal insurance plan for the elderly.  The advantage to this plan is that it takes an in-existence federal government insurance option (like the public plan) and makes it available to more people.  Additionally, the bill would grant the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the ability to create a national pool for health insurance by contracting with private insurance companies and offering reduced rates to the uninsured.  The idea is similar to the current health care system for federal government employees.  The expected savings provided by these two proposals would allow the Senate to increase the subsidies given through Medicaid to people at 150% of the federal poverty limit, up from 133% currently in the legislation.

Most moderate Democratic Senators have expressed tepid support, but will wait until the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to score the compromise before commenting.

Critics of the proposal reply that increasing the number of people in both Medicare and Medicaid would actually increase government expenditures in health care.  They also note that the increased number of enrollees could add to the funds’ solvency issues and drive up the rates for current enrollees.

Do you think the Medicare/Medicaid idea is a viable public option compromise?

Quick Hits

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