Obama’s health care plan follows a usual democratic template bearing resemblance to 1994 health care plan by Clinton, 2004 health care plan by Kerry along with the undeniable similarity to the proposal that was presented forward by Common Wealth Fund.
The emphasis is basically to quickly increase the number of masses that would be covered under the health insurance as significant upfront investment is made. The senator claims that his reform proposal would allow an American family to save medical costs by $2,500 every year.
The funding for this Obama campaign is assumed to be by making possible savings within the system and by discontinuing the tax cuts by Bush for people making over $250,000 of income per year. The health care reform plan by Obama is divided into three parts:
Barack Obama Health Care Plan
1. Everyone’s access to quality, portable and affordable health coverage.
2. Modernizing health care system in U.S. to better quality and lower costs.
3. Encouraging strengthening of public health.
Obama and Health Insurance
While these primary goals may seem to be very pleasing to Americans but the means that are necessary to achieve these goals are definitely not very convincing. Also, on the whole, the plan by Obama will give an enhanced control to the federal government over the decisions and dollars in the health care industry. This would be a drastic shift from the decentralized system that involves insurance regulation based on state and employer-based insurance.
Obama Medical Plan
Obama Medical Plan
Digital Health Records
Recently, the budget proposal for the overhaul of the health care system has been put forward by the President that calls for $634 billion fund for 10-years. Few details along with some new priorities have also been listed. A shift from the stressful and cumbersome paper-based system to electronic records in the health care industry is one agenda that will be taken up. This would require making arrangements to set up one common platform that can help medical professionals exchange records easily and in less time. Apart from saving the lives of millions of people by efficient communication, this would also reduce the millions of dollars that is invested in federal insurance programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
Obama and Cancer Research
Also, considering cancer to be the second most common reason for the deaths of most Americans along with its overreaching costs of billions of dollars, $6 billion is also allocated for research on cancer at National Institute of Health.
Obama Medicare Advantage
Over payments in the Medicare and getting rid of inefficiencies are some other important points in the pipeline. Federal insurance plan is also in the planning for disabled people and those above 65 years. This would mean estimated 45 million people that require 13 percent of the total federal spending.
The budget also suggests that using competitive bids as regards to Medicare would save over $175 billion within 10 years, though critics believe this to be quite unrealistic. So, overall, Obama health care plan consists of all the necessary components to effectively address essential shortcoming of United States ongoing health care system, i.e high-cost growth and limited coverage. If everything goes as planned, significant improvements in the Medicare industry would be a great treat to the Americans for sure.
