Today, the left is panicking that the Blue Dogs may abandon Obamacare as a bad job and join the House Republicans in supporting HR 3400. What does it do ?
Let’s go through them one by one.
1. Makes individual health insurance premiums tax deductible.
2. It has a refundable tax credit for low income purchasers.
3. Makes block grants to states for reinsurance pools for pre-existing conditions. That sounds like the 2004 Kerry proposal.
4. Supports employer sponsored plans.
5. Provides “Portals” to assist in buying insurance.
6. Makes employer insurance defined benefit so the employee owns it, like 401Ks, I think
7. Creates pools for insurance and allows interstate purchase of health insurance.
8. Medicaid and SCHIP are given the option of vouchers.
9. States must cover 90% of those below 200% of poverty level before eligibility can be expanded.
10. Involves specialty societies in quality improvement.
11. Improves primary care and “continuity of care” reimbursement.
12. Allows discounts for wellness programs.
13. TORT REFORM !!!
14. The usual “waste, fraud and abuse” rhetoric.
It will be interesting to see where this goes. The House leadership has already produced a response but there seems to be some disagreement on the actual provisionsof the bill, as would be expected.
Tags: health care, politics
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