In advance of the much-anticipated bipartisan meeting on health reform on Thursday, February 25th, President Obama today put forward a modified proposal to be used as a working document in the discussion. The President’s Proposal builds on the legislation that was passed in the Senate and attempts to bridge key differences between the House and the Senate versions of health reform. It also incorporates Republican provisions that strengthen the proposal.
According to the White House, one key improvement, for example, is eliminating the Nebraska FMAP provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid.
For America’s seniors, the proposal completely closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap. It strengthens the Senate bill’s provisions that make insurance affordable for individuals and families, while also strengthening the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid to save taxpayer dollars. The threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans will be raised from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and will start in 2018 for all such plans. And another important idea included is improving insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to review and rein in unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.
Republicans however, believe that the Thursday bipartisan meeting is a “trap” and that they will be forced to compromise or push back on the President’s Proposal and would be seen as the party of “no”. The White House has responded indicating that if the Republicans have a health reform proposal, they should put it on the table. The Administration has even offered to put up the Republican health reform plan, if they have one, on the White House website.
And so, the lack of bipartisanship in Washington will continue!
