Another health plan to consider

I’m not sure yet what to make of this idea for universal health coverage, though it probably deserves some debate, at least along the lines of the discussion surrounding the Clinton and Obama plans.

The plan — sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) — decouples insurance from employment, calls for wage hikes to offset the lost benefits.

Employees, in turn, would be required to purchase private health coverage with their higher wages. 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.

I’m not ready to comment on the plan aside from saying that it seems similar to the plans offered by the Democratic presidential candidates and to also say that I remain committed to single-payer coverage.

Single-payer, however, isn’t coming anytime soon so we’d better take a serious look at the more incremental approaches being floated in the hopes that some reform is better than none and, maybe, just maybe, these small steps can be the beginning of big change down the road.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet