Senator Barack Obama has a three-part plan for reforming America's health care system:
1. Give all Americans access to affordable, comprehensive, portable health coverage
Key features of this initiative include:
- A new Public National Health Plan, similar to the coverage available to federal employees. These plans will be available to all Americans, regardless of their health status, for an affordable premium. Copays and deductibles will be kept to a minimum, and subsidies may be available for low-income individuals.
- A new National Health Insurance Exchange to help Americans find private insurance plans. The Exchange will regulate insurance plans to ensure that they meet the same standards as the Public National Health Plan.
- A new business mandate that will require businesses to contribute toward the cost of the Public National Health Plan
- An individual mandate for children
- Increased support for existing safety net programs, such as Medicaid and SCHIP
2. Implement Reforms to Help Lower Costs and Improve Health Care Quality
To address the issues of health care costs and quality, Obama would provide federal funding assistance to businesses providing coverage to high-risk employees and dependents with catastrophic health care costs.
He also believes that we can reduce health spending by improving health care quality in the following ways:
- Improving chronic care by implementing disease management programs and coordinating care
- Requiring providers to be transparent about health care costs and quality
- Preventing medical errors
- Providing financial incentives for quality improvements
- Supporting research into the comparative effectiveness of medical technologies and therapies
- Addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care
- Reforming medical malpractice
- Promoting health information technology
- Reforming the insurance and drug markets by limiting insurance company profits and negotiating for lower drug prices
- Eliminating Medicare private plan overpayments
3. Promote Health and Wellness
Obama supports increasing federal funding for:
- Worksite wellness programs
- School efforts to address childhood obesity
- Education for healthcare professionals
- Individual and community initiatives to help Americans make healthful choices
Potential Savings Under Obama's Plan
Obama predicts that the average American family could save up to $2,500 each year under his plan. The savings are expected to come from:- Health IT investment
- Improvements in quality of care delivered to people with chronic health conditions
- Insurance industry reforms that limit profits
- Federal contribution toward catastrophic coverage, which should reduce premiums
- Providing universal coverage
Key Differences Between Obama's and Clinton's Proposals
As you can see, Obama's plan is similar to Senator Hillary Clinton's in that it builds on the existing health coverage infrastructure to provide health care for all. However, there are some key differences:
- No individual mandate
Unlike Clinton, who would require all Americans to obtain health coverage, Obama only mandates coverage for children. Adults are encouraged, but not required, to obtain coverage under his proposal. - No small employer exemption from the employer mandate
Although Clinton plans to exempt small employers from her employer mandate, Obama would require all employers to contribute to the cost of health coverage for their workers.
Source:
Obama For America. "Barack Obama's Plan For a Healthy America." Accessed February 2008.
