public plan

Comparing Co-ops to a Public Plan

The health reform bill awaiting action in the United States House of Representatives (HR 3200) includes a public health insurance plan, which would be sold to customers who shop for coverage in a newly-created Insurance Exchange.

Under the House bill, small employers, the self-employed, and the uninsured would be permitted to utilize the Insurance Exchange for this purpose.

Physicians Support Public Option

Submitted by pahealth on September 22, 2009 - 9:50am

A recent survey of nearly 5,000 physicians showed strong support (63 percent) for health reform that expands public and private health insurance options. Only 27 percent of responding physicians favored the expansion of private options only.

The findings are reported in the September 22nd issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

PA premiums soar as insurers face less competition

Submitted by pahealth on June 23, 2009 - 8:02am

Opponents of a public health insurance option for people shopping for health insurance claim it would destroy the competition within the health insurance industry.

Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist, asks: "What competition?"

Writing in his blog at the New York Times, Krugman states: "While the opponents of a private plan say that they’re trying to defend market competition, what they’re actually doing is defending lucrative local monopolies."

Does Specter support a public health insurance option?

Submitted by pahealth on May 13, 2009 - 1:20pm

In a May 8th letter to Health Care for America Now (HCAN), Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter conveyed his endorsement of HCAN's eight principles for national health care reform.

But the letter itself expressed reservations about two of those principles: a public health insurance plan and the use of the government's high-volume purchasing power to drive down the cost of prescription drugs.