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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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A Concise Rundown of Wyden's Health Care Plan
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Candidate
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| Contributor | WesternDem |
| Last Edited | WesternDem Mar 25, 2008 08:32pm |
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| Category | Proposed Legislation |
| News Date | Wednesday, March 26, 2008 02:30:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Under Wyden's proposal, all individuals except those in Medicare and the military would go to a state-based entity, called a Health Help Agency, to enroll in a private health care plan. Every person would have to buy insurance and could be required to show proof when interacting with government agencies, such as applying for a driver's license or enrolling children in school. For those earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $83,000 annually for a family of four, the government would subsidize premiums. Insurance companies would have to offer at least standard benefits, similar to what government employees get, and they could not deny a policy or charge higher prices based on health problems, occupation, gender, genetic information, or age.
During the first two years, employers would have to give employees in wages what the business had been spending on their health care. After that, Wyden predicts, employers would voluntarily continue to pay workers at the higher rate, but they also would be responsible for contributing to employee premiums for private health plans. To deter people from buying excessive health benefits, the current unlimited tax exemption for employer-provided benefits would be replaced with a fixed "health premium" tax deduction. (Although employers would no longer offer insurance under Wyden's original legislation, he is working on a modification, requested by a recent co-sponsor, to allow employers to provide insurance to those workers who want it.)...
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