I understand all of the reasons people favor a strong public option in the health insurance reform bills percolating through Congress, and I know that it’s an apostasy to say so, but my recent experiences with the health care industry make me deeply concerned about the public option. My wife recently had a baby – … Continue reading »
The details matter
The effects of any public option in health care reform will depend critically on details of how it is structured, and how well it is implemented over time. Consider how public option designs would affect the goals of universal insurance, cost control, efficiency, and choice: 1. Universal insurance: To tackle the uninsurance problem, a public … Continue reading »
Is the public option essential for meaningful health reform?
The four goals of offering the public option as part of health care reform are 1) to reduce administrative costs, 2) to create purchasing power, 3) to force private health insurance to compete with it, and 4) to give the American people a choice of a public or private health plans. The big questions are: who will be eligible? how big will the premium subsidies be? and will it be a national public option with all states participating? If a national public option is offered through a Federal Health Insurance Exchange, it has the potential to transform the US health care system to one that is more efficient, affordable, accessible, equitable and offers meaningful choices to high quality care for the American people.