Health Care Reform--indeed

Here is an interesting summation by the Heritage Foundation of Kennedy's Health Care Reform Bill:

"Within the federal government, much of the decision-making power would be concentrated in the hands of the secretary of health and human services (HHS), who would be given broad regulatory authority over various aspects of health care financing and delivery.

1. A Public Plan That Would Compete with Private Health Insurance. Under Title I, the bill specifies how the HHS would assist the states in setting up a "gateway," the committee's version of a "health insurance exchange." In establishing a gateway, the states would be required to make "qualified health plans" available to state residents, and in making available that coverage, "a Gateway shall include a public insurance option."[4]
In other words, the committee envisions a government-sponsored plan competing with private plans on a supposedly level playing field. That means government officials would ultimately be responsible for one plan while setting the rules of competition for all plans. It is impossible to believe that government officials would set rules without stacking the deck in favor of their own plan. It is hardly surprising, then, that under the public insurance option, the authors of the Senate bill have a notation: "Policy under discussion."

I highlighted my favorite part.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2481.cfm