Obama Health Plan to Cost $950 Billion

Posted in Health Insurance

February 23rd, 2010

In President Barack Obama’s attempt to revive the crippled health care bill, the White House announced on Monday its new proposal that would ultimately cost $950 billion over 10 years. Among numerous adjustments in the bill, the president suggested a tax on high-end health plans be delayed for all workers.

What’s In the New Proposal?

According to the White House announcement, a few changes to the original health care bill that have been included in the proposal include:

• Increased penalties on businesses that fail to insure workers and individuals who fail to get health insurance.
• The federal government has been given the authority to block insurers from making premium-rate increases (A new Health Insurance Rate Authority would determine what is a reasonable rate increase and block what isn’t)
• Tax on high-end policies should be delayed for all workers until 2018.
• Medicare tax would apply to unearned income for upper-income household.
• To pay for the additional Medicare drug benefit, fees would be increased for brand-name drug companies by about $10 billion.

Will the Bill Bridge the Gap?

There has been much talk about the most recently-proposed bill being Democratic-heavy. Most Republicans vowed that they would fight the bill to the end. However, before they had their shot, something more miraculous occurred; the Democrats lost their 60th seat in the Senate and could no longer pass their bill without Republican consent.

Afterward, Obama set forth a new goal, which was to create a bipartisan health care bill that would make everyone happy while keeping health insurance rates low. However, it’s clear that there is still disagreement between the two parties with the suggestions coming from the Republican Party.

Will the newly proposed bill finally offer what both parties are looking for? We won’t know for sure until Obama takes it to the bipartisan meeting that will be held on Thursday. However, reports say that Republicans are planning to bring their ideas to the meeting and Democrats plan to listen.

Hopefully, the will spell good news for the millions of uninsured who have been patiently waiting for an answer on whether they’ll be able to take advantage of health plans in the near future.