To be or not to be: Public healthcare plan
President Obama captivated millions of Americans to help him win the presidency last November. Many Americans were especially intrigued by the prospect of public health care. A little over half a year later, America anxiously awaits the arrival of this health care plan.
According to Reuters, Americans can expect to be waiting for a while longer. Democrats in the House of Representatives told Reuters on Tuesday that it was “unlikely they would vote on a healthcare overhaul before heading home for their August recess at the end of the week.”
The Senate Finance negotiations are pulling for a plan where co-ops compete against private insurers, which they think will cut down healthcare costs. But, there’s some controversy surrounding the idea of cooperatives.
If this were to be passed, the non-profits would be used at a state, regional and national level and could affect up to 12 million people.
Democratic Senator Kent Conrad told Rueters that the government would provide about $6 billion to help healthcare cooperatives start up. Then, each co-op would need about 25,000 members to be “financially viable” and 500,000 members to “negotiate competitive rates with providers.”
What President Obama had been pulling for wasn’t met with much support. It probably has something to do with the price tag: $1 trillion.
“I understand people being scared that this is going to be way too costly,” Obama said. “It’s not too costly if we start making changes right now.”
Maybe, but is it really worth it?
andrea @ July 29, 2009