January 19, 2007

Broad-Based Group Unveils Consensus Uninsured Proposal

An unprecedented alliance of diverse health care organizations this week proposed a balanced plan to help break the partisan logjam on the uninsured issue.

• The Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured announced its nonpartisan plan for extending health coverage. HCCU is comprised of 16 national organizations, including AARP, the American Medical Association, Families USA, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson  and the Healthcare Leadership Council.
   
• These groups have often found themselves on opposite sides of health care issues.  Yet they worked together in good faith on this project. Important organizations such as the Heritage Foundation and the National Governors Association assisted in the deliberations.
   
• HCCU's product of two years of collaboration could serve as a model for a bipartisan solution to the uninsured issue, if congressional leaders are willing to cross the aisle and work together.

HCCU proposed a balanced approach that would significantly expand health coverage for those without health insurance, starting with uninsured children.

• The first step, called the "Kids First Initiative," would use both public and private sector elements to cover more uninsured children.  Parents applying for public programs like food stamps would at the same time seek their kids' enrollment in programs like Medicaid and S-CHIP.
   
• States would receive more funding to maximize enrollment of eligible children in public health programs. And a competitive grant would help states to experiment with innovative ways to extend coverage.
   
• Most low- and middle-income families would get a new, graduated, refundable tax credit to help them pay the extra cost of private health coverage for their kids.
   
• The second phase would target coverage at adults.  It too would involve flexibility in expanding public programs like Medicaid for the poor, a tax credit for middle-income uninsured to afford private coverage, and grants to states to try different insurance forms like high-risk pools.
   
• The HCCU plan would cover up to half of the 46 million uninsured.  The initial phase would quickly insure up to 6 million children who qualify for, but aren't enrolled in, existing public health programs.

Health care leaders urge Congress to take a good look at the HCCU plan.  It truly could be a roadmap to addressing the uninsured issue.  It is timely because of the S-CHIP program being on the agenda for reauthorization this year.  The private entities represented in HCCU sought "to break the historic policymaking gridlock on the uninsured."  That goal has been accomplished.  This proposal offers a solution that both Republicans and Democrats can embrace.