Senate To Debate Health Care Reform

Cori Uccello, senior health fellow with the AAA, said, “The individual mandate language should be strengthened.”

Uccello said the “viability of health care reform depends on attracting lower-risk individuals, and strengthening the individual mandate through higher financial penalties increases the likelihood that these individuals will purchase coverage.”

In his comments, NAIFA’s Currey also disputed the need for a so-called “public plan” in the legislation and said the Senate bill does not address “the devastating results of allowing individuals to purchase coverage after they are ill or injured–essentially leaving everyone in the system ‘on claim.’

Currey also took issue with the Senate version of a long term care entitlement program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, or CLASS Act.

The new opt-out long term care program, with its daily benefit of $50 to $75, is disappointing as it creates a sense of false security that is severely insufficient to meet the daily long term care for expenses now averaging $200 per day,” Currey stated. “This creates a disincentive for individuals to plan properly for their long term care financing needs. New health insurance responsibilities will have an economic adverse affect on many employers.”

In a note to members late Friday, lobbyists for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers said they had expected the vote to debate the bill, “notwithstanding a massive public outcry and backlash.”

The note stated that it is difficult to envision at this time the outcome of the debate but said it was “more and more likely that the debate will spill into next year.”

For coverage of the debate about proceeding with debate, look here.

For coverage of the content of the bill itself, look here.