Senate May Have To Drop Public Health Insurance Option
President Obama’s healthcare reform proposal took a sharp blow this week as Democrats are considering dropping the plan for a government run insurance option. The Senate entered the recess without a formal vote after Senate Majority leader Harry Reid reported last week that this would be the case.
Fiscal conservatives both Republican and Democrat are balking at the costs associated with a government run insurance program and the effects it would have on the private industry. However without the plan, it may difficult to follow up on President Obama’s promise of finding a insurance solution for the estimated 50 million Americans who are currently uninsured.
That being said it would also probably be a mistake to follow in the footsteps of Massachusetts, the only state so far that has mandated universal health insurance coverage. Putting in to effect an expensive plan and trying to control spending or find financing options later could backfire as it has for Massachusetts, the state quickly found that costs far outpaced their estimates and were forced to seek federal support.
Coming up with a comprehensive healthcare reform package is no easy task, as decades of neglect from the government over skyrocketing healthcare cost have led to the current situation. Soaring Medicare costs and the impact from the recession now leaves the costly government run program less than nine years before insolvency and that time frame may fall even further.
It is probably for the best that Congress takes it’s time in this matter, as this will likely be the only chance they get to try to fix the problem that has been growing for many years now. That they are also forced to come up with a solution during the worst recession since the Great Depression and when the government’s debt load has ballooned has only added to the already difficult task.
