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Tuesday, August 29, 2006Strickland proposes an Ohio Healthcare Exchange, which would bring together small businesses and private insurers to design low-cost health-care packages that would be available to all uninsured Ohioans. Participation would be voluntary. Low-income families earning up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level would get help paying the premiums. The exchange, estimated to cost $550 million over two years, would be paid for by employer and individual contributions in addition to state funds that now assist programs for the uninsured. State money would be used to draw federal matching funds. Addressing the problem of the uninsured, Blackwell proposes a new Buckeye Health Plan, adopting the framework of a plan Massachusetts lawmakers approved this spring. The model features a private insurance market offering approved, low-cost plans. It requires that everyone buy some form of health coverage, the program financed by employer contributions, individual contributions with pretax dollars and existing state funds. Blackwell would create a Buckeye Health Connection to facilitate activities in the new insurance market. Both plans reveal, overtly and otherwise, the influence of the Massachusetts model, policymakers collaborating with private insurers and small business to create a market for the uninsured, pooling private and available public funding sources to cover the cost. Neither plan breaks new imaginative ground. The challenge, as always, lies in the details, in attracting private insurers to offer decent coverage at costs the working poor can afford. As a small business owner, I'm all for cheaper healthcare premiums. But can the goal be realized with the aging baby boomers as part of the demographic? posted by Sydney on 8/29/2006 01:34:00 PM 1 comments 1 Comments:
"Both plans reveal, overtly and otherwise, the influence of the Massachusetts model"
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