President Obama recently announced another overhaul to the health care proposal that incorporates previously rejected Republican ideas.  Does this mean that we could be one step closer to an approved health care reform?  Here are the GOP ideas, recently added to the proposal.

Fight fraud and abuse. Republicans have been pushing for background checks on billing agencies, insurance companies and individuals to help prevent fraud and abuse in the health care industry. Obama now proposes that random undercover investigations of health care providers take place on a regular basis.   It has been documented that fraud and abuse wastes billions of tax payer dollars each year.

Control malpractice lawsuits. Republicans wanted a push to end ‘junk lawsuits’.  Obama is now a supporter of this idea and will is appropriate $50 million to help states find alternate resolutions to costly medical malpractice disputes.  Part of the money would develop and manage a health court system.

Increase Medicaid.  Obama plans to increase Medicaid reimbursements to doctors, an idea originally supported by Republicans. Obama’s plan eliminates the controversial Nebraska proposal which exempts that state from paying increased Medicaid expenses. It also provides additional federal financing to all 50 states for the Medicaid expansion.

Close the donut hole.  Obama’s newest proposal closes the Medicare prescription drug ‘donut hole’.  Under current Medicare limits, seniors are covered until they reach the $2,830 limit.  At that time, they must pay all additional costs out of pocket until they reach $4,550, at which point Medicare coverage kicks back in.  Obama’s proposal provides a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who reach the $2,830 limit in 2010. The plan slowly closes the donut hole over the next 10 years.

Health care exchange plans.  Republicans were concerned about ensuring that Health Savings Accounts are included in the health care exchange program.  Obama is now considering including language that guarantees that high deductible health plans are offered in the health exchange. “The GOP plan creates new incentives to save for current and future health care needs by allowing qualified participants to use HSA funds to pay premiums for high deductible health insurance,” according to official GOP website, gop.gov.

SOURCE:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/03/health.care.gop.ideas/index.html

SOURCE: http://www.gop.gov/

After 7 1/2 hours of debate and disagreement, President Obama concluded that an agreement between Democrats and Republicans may not be possible.

“We cannot have another year long debate about this,”  Obama said at the end of the full day marathon policy session.

Neither party gave any ground, sticking to arguing useless points and making egotistical comments.  The conversation veered between irrelevant details and bad tempers.  Disagreements were not expressed diplomatically, cheap shots and negative remarks continued throughout the day, and irritation was clearly visible on the faces of both parties.

Polls are showing that Americans want solutions to the biggest problems of high medical costs, decreasing access to coverage and inconsistent quality. However, many Americans are split over the Democrats’ sweeping legislation, with its 1 trillion dollar price tag pver 10 years and many complex provisions, including some changes that wouldn’t even take effect for eight years.

Obama and his Democratic party clashed with congressional Republicans over the right prescription for the nation’s broken health care system.  Republicans oppose this dramatically sweeping health care plan and favor small changes over a period of years.

The Democratic bills would require most Americans to get health insurance, while providing subsidies for others in the form of a tax credit. They would set up a competitive insurance market for small businesses and people buying coverage on their own. Democrats also would make numerous other changes, which include addressing a coverage gap in the Medicare prescription benefit and setting up a new long term care insurance program. Their plan would be paid for through a mix of Medicare cuts and tax increases.

“Not only are lawmakers polarized, the parties’ constituencies are far apart,” said Robert Blendon, a Harvard University professor who follows public opinion trends on health care. “The president is going to use it as a launching pad for what will be the last effort to get a big bill passed. He will say that he tried to get a bipartisan compromise and it wasn’t possible.”

SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul

Earlier this week, President Obama released a modified health care plan – three days before a bipartisan summit on health care.

The modified plan, in general, contains the same fundamentals included in the House and Senate bills that have already passed, but with adjustments and provisions.  President Obama is hoping that by laying out a health care plan that largely resembles the House and Senate bills that everyone could reach a compromise. By releasing his new plan earlier this week, days before the health care summit, the White House is trying to frame the debate until then.

Some highlights from the new White House health care plan:

New federal insurance regulation The plan includes a new federal health insurance regulatory board that will review rate increases and block those it deems unjustified.  State insurance commissioners have the power to do this in most places, but a new federal authority could strengthen rate regulation.

Medicaid help for states The plan would eliminate the notorious and despised Cornhusker Kickback, a special Medicaid deal awarded to Nebraska under the original Senate bill. Instead, the Obama Administration’s health care plan would increase Medicaid funding for all states. The plan would also give extra funding to states that have already expanded their Medicaid programs, even without federal prompting. This could do a lot to appease governors who have been loudly protesting the Medicaid expansion called for under Democratic reform, saying the state-federal program will eventually break their budgets.

Weakens the cadillac tax The plan delays the implementation of the excise tax on “Cadillac” health plans until 2018 and raises the threshold for which plans would get taxed. Beginning in 2018, individual plans with premiums above $10,200 and families plans above $27,500 would be subject to the tax. There are adjustments made for companies where costs are higher because of age and gender of workers and there is an adjustment made for workers in high-risk occupations.

Closes the doughnut hole The plan would close the Medicare drug benefit “doughnut hole” completely by 2020. This would be paid for by an additional $10 billion in fees from drug companies.

Increases affordability The plan increases subsidies for middle income Americans buying their own health insurance on the open market beyond what the Senate bill called for.

Imposes higher fees on individuals and employers who go without insurance The plan would strengthen the individual mandate by adopting the House’s higher penalties for those who opt not to buy insurance. There are still hardship exemptions and exemptions for those with income below the tax filing threshold. The fee on employers who don’t offer coverage would be $2,000 per worker, with firms with 50 or fewer employees exempted from this requirement. There is also a $40 billion infusion of tax credits available to small businesses to help them offer coverage beginning in 2010.

National exchange, no public option and Senate abortion language The Obama plan does not mention any of these sticking points, meaning it favors the Senate exchange design (state based exchanges rather than the House’s national exchange), the Senate’s abortion language (not the House’s Stupak language) and the Senate’s lack of a public option.

The Obama plan would cost $950 billion over ten years and provide new insurance coverage for 31 million Americans.

SOURCE: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/02/22/details-of-obamas-health-care-plan/#respond