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U.S. Senator Patty Murray (R), Democrat of Washingto, speaks alongside U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, Jr, Democrat of New Jersey, on U.S. President Donald Trump’s 100-day tenure and health policies, during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 26, 2017.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Two key Democrats plan to draft legislation to create a public health care option, a move they hope will expand insurance coverage and lower costs.
Senate Health, Education, Work and Pensions Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., And House of Commons Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone, DN .J. affordable, quality health coverage across the United States. “
Lawmakers, who oversee the relevant health policy groups, have sought to find out who should be eligible for the schemes, what benefits they should offer, and what role states should have in their administration, among others.
Murray and Pallone set out to draft insurance legislation as President Joe Biden excludes a public option from his economic recovery proposals. Biden ran for president creating a Medicare-like plan that many Americans could subscribe to, but for now has chosen to improve access to the plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment on the Murray-Pallone plan.
Some Democrats have urged the president to include a public option or lower the age of Medicare eligibility as part of his U.S. plan for families. Democrats are likely to pass the proposal, the second element of Biden’s stimulus package, without Republican votes using special budget rules.
The GOP fought against the expansion of government-run insurance. If Democrats decide to pursue a public option, they could face additional resistance from the healthcare industry – or from their own party, depending on the structure of the bill.
About two-thirds of voters, or 68%, support a public option, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll in March. The share includes 56% Republicans.
The question of how best to extend health coverage became a central issue during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, even before the coronavirus pandemic caused millions of Americans to lose their employer-sponsored insurance.
Biden’s plan to create a public option differed from the single-payer “Medicare for All” system proposed by his main challenger for the nomination, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Biden has taken steps to adjust health care coverage and costs since taking office. His administration opened a special enrollment period for Obamacare insurance plans, during which at least 1 million people signed up.
The coronavirus relief program that Biden enacted in March included an expansion of subsidies for people who buy insurance in the ACA market. The US Plan for Families calls for investing $ 200 billion to make these measures permanent.
However, Biden has not moved as president to implement a public option. In their letter requesting comment, Murray and Pallone said too many Americans do not have access to coverage despite the White House’s efforts.
While the Biden administration has taken a number of steps to expand coverage, including opening a special enrollment period that has allowed over a million people to sign up for coverage in the federal market alone, tens of millions of Americans still remain uninsured or underinsured. ”lawmakers wrote.
Senses Michael Bennet, D-Colo., And Tim Kaine, D-Va., Wanted Biden to include their Medicare public option plan in a budget reconciliation bill this year.
Senators, including Sanders, have also pushed Biden to lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 55 or 60, from the current 65, as part of his stimulus plans. They said it could fund the extension of coverage by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug companies.
Biden did not include the negotiation proposal in his family plan. In his first joint speech to Congress, he urged lawmakers to pass legislation allowing direct negotiations.
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