Health Reform On Its Way?

The most recent legislation with any hope of being passed is a bipartisan supported bill called the "Healthy Americans Act." Click here for a PDF download. Anyone with a future in medicine should be paying very close attention to the progress of this bill. Although it will likely change once a president is elected, the meat of the bill could remain. Whether this will actually come through is another story. As the battle goes with reforming healthcare in this country, it is not so easy. So let's examine what a co-author of the bill says it will do. The next blog I will go into more of the debate and look at other perspectives of this bill.

These are the main concepts of the bill from Senator Bob Bennet's website:

The Basic Principles of the Healthy Americans Act

1. CHOICE – Gives Americans choice in what type of coverage best suits their individual and family’s needs and a choice in where they receive health care services.
2. PORTABILITY – Because the individual will now own their health policy, insurance becomes portable from job to job and individuals will no longer feel tied to their job because of health benefits.
3. TAX REFORM – Breaks the link between employment and insurance, giving employees instead of employers the tax benefit, which will strengthen incentives to shop for lower cost plans, as well as improve health care quality.
4. HEALTHY BEHAVIOR – Promotes personal responsibility and preventative medicine by creating incentives for individuals to engage in healthy behavior.
5. MARKET FORCES – Provides for patient-driven health care through market forces by allowing more transparency and competition, thereby forcing insurance companies to compete on price, benefits, and quality.