By a vote of 15-8, the Senate Finance Committee rejected amendments that would add a government run public health insurance plan to the committee’s health care legislation. Under this plan the government run option would inherit Medicare’s provider network and pay them based upon Medicare’s payment schedule over the first two years. Senator Rockfeller argued the public option is necessary to keep costs low and provide increased competition for private insurers, making affordable health insurance a reality.
A similar amendment creating a government run health insurance option, but paying providers based on negotiated rates rather than Medicare rates also failed by a vote of 13-10. This plan, introduced by Senator Schumer, accurately argued many health care providers complain that Medicare pays too little for routine medical procedures and hospital visits.
Several states offer few affordable health insurance options, mostly due to lack of competition among private insurance companies. However, the creation of a government run public health insurance option is not the only avenue through which competition can increase. The Finance Committee bill is the only version of the health care legislation that omits the public health insurance option in favor of devoting $6 billion to help start up health insurance co-operatives, which would be non-government entities that compete directly with private insurers.
Affordable health insurance is a reality for many Americans and can be discovered by shopping multiple health insurance companies and considering different plans. Thousands of people daily use health insurance plan finders such as the one at www.SafeHealthInsurance.com to view all health insurance plans offered. This can be a great way to shop all companies at one time and ensure you are saving as much money as possible.