Latest Health Care Proposal Popular with Industry Groups

Giddy in a rally-style speech to students at the University of Maryland yesterday, President Barack Obama noted that there is a new health care bill gaining momentum in Congress. Obama also claimed that "special interests" are lining up against the bill. Obama also noted that an "unprecedented coalition" of hospitals, doctors, nurses, and drug makers support the new bill, claiming that those most in favor of the new bill "are the very medical professionals who have firsthand knowledge" of how poorly the current system works. While placing "special interests" in one corner and "drug makers" squarely in another was obviously a strange choice, but perhaps that special interest group just slipped in with the more benign healthcare professionals who support the bill.

The most recent bill, which is being quietly cheered by health insurance companies, the nation’s largest employers and pharmaceutical companies, is likely to raise as much fuss as previous versions. In this latest iteration, American taxpayers would foot the bill for currently-uninsured customers, ensuring health insurers a new, larger customer base of millions of people. The bill also calls for penalties for those who don’t have health insurance.

On the plus side, insurers would not be able to deny coverage to people with serious health problems and would likely be asked to help share in the burden of making a transition to the new system. Obviously missing from this new popular legislation is a "public option," whereby the government would compete with insurers. Also of major concern is the proposed 35% tax on the highest-cost health insurance plans and $60 billion in fees that will be passed on to health insurance companies and, presumably, to consumers. In short, if you have insurance now and think you pay too much, there’s bad news on the horizon. For those who are uninsured, the bill may be a blessing, though it remains to be seen how people will be penalized for failing to hand over their money to the insurance companies for coverage.