Health Care Reform
Julia Newman
On February 22, 2010 President Obama came out with a revised healthcare plan. This comes right before Thursday’s bi-partisan health care summit. The revisions of the Health Care Bill aim to please both Republicans and Democrats. The proposal aims to be a compromise between the House of Representatives and the Senate respective versions of the bill in hopes the new bill will be more “passable.” The White House claims this plan would give coverage to 31 million Americans and would give the middle class a large tax-cut. The new plan includes no public option which was has been heavily favored by liberals and controversial. Obama’s proposal would bar insurers from charging higher premiums based on a person's gender or medical history or denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. This plan also provides $40 billion in tax credits for small businesses to help them provide health care options for their employees. One of the key differences of this plan is that it gives the government new authority to block excessive rate hikes by health insurance companies.
- Premiums: The periodic payment made on an insurance plan
- Tax credits: Tax benefits
- Argument for: This plan hopes to help many of the 46 million uninsured Americans (number provided by the White House). This plan is more of a compromise than the previous one and may be able to garner larger support.
- Argument against: There is no public option. Some believe this bill is more a compromise than actual progress in the health care debate.
Additional Reading:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/22/obama.health.care/index.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/Issues/health-Care
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