The Road Ahead for America’s Health Care with President Obama

Now that the American President Obama is officially inaugurated today, let’s take a look at his proposal for addressing the issues of American health care.

Below is an ‘Analysis of the Obama Health Care Proposal’ by John Holahan and Linda J. Blumberg of the Urban Institute, an organization for Nonpartisan Economic and Social Policy Research:

Evaluation Summary of Obama’s Health Care Proposal

“The Obama health care plan would greatly increase health insurance coverage, substantially increase access to affordable and adequate coverage for those with the highest health care needs, significantly increase the affordability of care for the low-income, and reduce the growth in health spending through a broad array of strategies.

Despite the overall positive assessment, a few concerns remain. The plan would leave about 6% uninsured, necessitating the maintenance of the current inefficient safety net system; the employer mandate may engender significant political opposition; and the cost estimate may be low depending upon how several plan details are resolved.

Overall Assessment of Obama’s Health Care plans

Our general assessment of the Obama health care plan is that it would

* greatly increase health insurance coverage but would still leave about 6% of the non-elderly population uninsured, compared to 17% today.
* substantially increase access to affordable and adequate coverage for those with the highest health care needs, including those with chronic illnesses, by spreading health care risk broadly;
* significantly increase the affordability of care for low-income individuals; and
* reduce the growth in health spending through a broad array of strategies.

In short, Obama’s proposal contains the basic components necessary for effectively addressing the most important shortcomings of the current health care system, that is, limited coverage, inadequate risk pooling, and high-cost growth.”

Altering the Health Care Insurance Industry

“The Obama plan would give the federal gov­ernment even more control of health care dollars and decisions—a radical departure from the decentralized decision-making system that characterizes employer-based insurance and state-based insurance regulation.” state by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D. and Nina Owcharenko from the Heritage Foundation. “The pro­posed National Health Insurance Exchange would clearly be a powerful regulatory agency, not simply a clearinghouse for a national health insurance market. ” they point out. “The Obama plan takes a giant step toward cen­tralizing America’s health insurance.”

Sources: Urban Institute
The Heritage Foundation