Bipartisan Health Care Reform

Congressmen Josh Gottheimer and Tom Reed who head the House Problem Solvers Caucus have proposed a bipartisan health care reform plan in an op-ed in the New York Times:

Our proposal first focuses on the most urgent crisis: the skyrocketing cost of individual health insurance premiums. The Trump administration is considering suspending cost-sharing payments that defray out-of-pocket payments like deductibles and co-payments for people earning less than 250 percent of the poverty line. Because of uncertainty about this subsidy, insurers have said premiums could rise by 15 percent or more. On Aug. 16, insurers must submit their 2018 rates to state regulators for approval; many may be forced to leave the individual marketplace altogether.

Our plan would stabilize markets by making the cost-sharing payments mandatory and thereby prevent rates from rising sharply.

Second, we provide a relief valve to help states deal with the high cost of pre-existing and chronic conditions. The costliest 5 percent of patients account for nearly half of all health care spending in the country. We propose a dedicated stability fund — essentially a form of reinsurance — that states could use to reduce premiums and limit losses for providing coverage for these high-cost patients.

Third, our proposal provides relief to certain businesses from the mandate that they provide insurance to full-time employees. It also defines “full time” as a 40-hour workweek to discourage businesses from manipulating employees’ weekly hours to skirt the mandate. More than 90 percent of large businesses offered health care before the Affordable Care Act, and studies show that they would continue to do so under this change; others would move to find employee coverage in the individual marketplace.

Fourth, our plan eliminates the Medical Device Tax, an excise charge of 2.3 percent that is often passed onto consumers and reduces funds for research and development. And finally, we provide states with additional flexibility to enter into agreements — such as enabling the sale of insurance across state lines — that would provide more choice and lower costs.

If that states its form fairly, it’s a plan that both parties should jump on. While essentially giving Democrats the win it provides Republicans with a few fig leaves and would enable them to put the health care debacle behind them.

As I predicted it basically throws money at insurance companies which should keep them quiet for a while. Removing mandates from certain businesses and giving states more flexibility would let some Republicans claim that they’ve replaced the hated Obamacare.

If the Democratic leadership smells blood in the water, they won’t go for it and what looks like a reasonable plan for digging out of this hole will go down in flames.

If the Republican leadership is more committed to actually repealing the PPACA than it is to keeping their jobs which I doubt, they’ll oppose it, too.

Sadly, it doesn’t do much to address the underlying problem in health care which is rising costs. And if it’s enacted, there are no real prospects for the Congress returning to health care reform any time soon.