Obama’s health care plan unveiled

Like the plans of other candidates, presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama’s health care plan is "aimed at covering the nearly 45 million uninsured Americans and reducing premium costs for everyone else." (New York Times)

The main points of his plan:

• reliance on the "existing employer-based system and a new government program to make health insurance accessible to everyone"
• reduction in the "cost of health insurance by helping with expenditures for catastrophic illnesses. Ie. the "federal government [would] cushion employers from sudden, disastrous spikes in health expenditures, by reimbursing health plans for the cost of catastrophic illnesses among their employees"
• "new scrutiny and new limits on the profits of the biggest insurance companies"
• Elimination of President Bush's tax cuts for those who make $250K+/yr in 2010, when the tax cuts are up for renewal.
• Employers (with the exception of small businesses) would be required to either cover their employees or "pay the government a set percentage of their payroll to provide it."
• Creation of a "public plan for individuals who cannot obtain group coverage through their employers or the existing government programs"
• "Children would be required to have health insurance."
• "Subsidies would be available for those who need help with the cost of coverage."
• Creation of "National Health Insurance Exchange, a regulated marketplace of competing private health plans intended to give individuals other, more affordable options for coverage. The public plan would compete in that Insurance Exchange."

The main issue other candidates are pointing at, is the fact that Senator Obama's plan does not require every American to have insurance and therefore "is not a true universal health plan."

Looking beyond the promises, the primary issue we should all be looking at is: can the plans be carried out and fulfilled?

Promises are great, but actions are better.