(Adds plan details, comment from outside groups)
By Patrick Yoest Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus urged quick action on his plan to provide health insurance for all Americans through a new pooling arrangement intended to reduce health-care costs and expand access to Medicare and Medicaid.
Baucus, D-Mont., on Wednesday unveiled the proposal, which would create a pooling scheme called the Health Information Exchange that is intended to foster competition in the health insurance market. Health insurers participating in the exchange would be regulated by an independent health council, according a white paper released by the Senate Finance Committee.
Under Baucus' plan, individuals at or below four times the federal poverty level would qualify for subsidies to buy insurance in the exchange, while small businesses would receive tax credits based on earnings and the size of their firm to participate in the system.
To ease the transition to the exchange, the plan would also temporarily allow people aged 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare coverage and would allow all those at or under the federal poverty level eligible for Medicaid.
"The health-care system in this country is broken for individual Americans, and it's straining our economy," said Baucus.
Baucus said he wants to see speedy passage of the health-care plan in the Senate.
"I'd like to see, frankly, the legislation acted on in the first half of the year," he said.
Baucus said he had several conversations with Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in recent weeks. Kennedy shares jurisdiction with Baucus on health-care issues, and Kennedy's staff has pledged an aggressive approach on health-care legislation.
At least for now, the two appear to be taking a joint approach to crafting health-care legislation.
"I want to work with Sen. Kennedy, and I want to work with the Health Committee and all my colleagues," Baucus said.
In a statement, Kennedy said Baucus' proposal is "a major contribution to the debate on health reform."
"I look forward to working with Sen. Baucus, our colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle, and the Obama administration to see that we at last achieve the goal of quality, affordable health care for all Americans," Kennedy said.
Baucus on Wednesday sought to reinforce the notion that the plan was a public-private hybrid - a mix of tax incentives and expansions of public health-care programs.
"Some people suggest the United States should have a single-payer system," Baucus said. "I don't think a single-payer system makes sense in this country."
Another part of Baucus' proposal would expand the state children's health insurance program, or Schip, by requiring states to insure all children at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. Schip is intended to cover mostly low-income children who don't qualify for Medicaid.
While some states already provide benefits at this level, 14 states had a funding shortfall for Schip in 2007 and some had to lower the income threshold for the program.
House Ways and Means Health Chairman Pete Stark, D-Calif., has said that he wants Congress to pass a stand-alone Schip expansion as one of its first acts in 2009. Baucus wouldn't say whether he would endorse a move to separate Schip expansion from a broader health-care overhaul.
"That's a tactical, strategic question we're going to have to work out," Baucus said.
In a statement, Stark and House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Baucus' proposal "supports a number of principles we have pursued over time" and that they "look forward to working together with Sen. Baucus and other members of Congress, under the leadership of the Obama administration, to ensure affordable health care for all."
The cost of creating the health insurance exchange and expanding coverage through private insurance and federal government programs would create substantial new spending in the short term, Baucus said. But he declined to put a dollar figure on the cost of this program.
Baucus policy staff said Wednesday that the costs of the program likely wouldn't be offset with new taxes - or in other words, the Baucus proposal would create new deficit spending.
"It's something we're clearly going to have to talk about," one staffer said. "[Baucus] believes there's going to be an initial investment that you can't make up."
Baucus' plan won initial praise Wednesday from a number of advocacy groups and trade organizations.
AARP, which represents older Americans, praised several parts of the plan, including the Medicare buy-in and an Schip expansion.
Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive of the insurers' trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, in a statement praised Baucus "for putting forth a comprehensive reform proposal that addresses the key health care challenges facing the nation."
-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554; patrick.yoest@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 12, 2008 15:46 ET (20:46 GMT)

Publié le 12 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones