With the looming Healthcare Summit just a few days away, President Barack Obama has released his updated vision of health care reform. As expected, it is a bridge between the House and Senate bills passed at the end of 2009, as it represents a blend of the more acceptable components of each. It is to serve as the starting point of the much publicized, bipartisan meeting scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 25, 2010.

Some of the key conciliatory features of this plan, according to the White House, are:

• Eliminates the Nebraska FMAP provision and provides significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid;

• Closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap;

• Strengthens the Senate bill’s provisions that make insurance affordable for individuals and families;

• Strengthens the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid;

• Increases the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and starting it in 2018 for all plans;

• Improves insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to provide Federal assistance and oversight to States in conducting reviews of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.

The plan is expected to guarantee coverage for 31 million Americans who lack it, without the controversial government-run plan. The cost of plan is estimated at close to $1 trillion over 10 years and is expected to be paid for by Medicare cuts, additional taxes, and fees charged to pharmaceutical companies and other health industry firms. 

For more information about the President’s House’s proposal, please visit the following White House link:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal

In addition, the White House’s website includes a section detailing the republican ideas that are being included in Obama’s proposal, such as personal responsibility provisions and medical liability reform. This information can be found at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/republican-ideas