My Two Cents on Health Care Reform

I'm opposed to a new public option health plan & want more competition.

Many of my colleagues are surprised when they hear that I am—like many Republicans and "Blue Dog" Democrats—opposed to the current proposals for a new public option health plan. But, after a brief explanation, both the dismay of the public option folks and the applause from public option opponents ends.

I'm not opposed to government-offered health plans—or to competition. In fact, I strongly encourage both. On the competition side, we have a perfectly fine model for offering Americans a choice among public and private health plans, the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP) model, which currently offers over 300 health insurance choices to Federal employees. My proposal? Give every American a voucher and let them pick between a wide variety of public and private plans (assuming the plans offered meet minimum requirements for coverage, etc.)

That said, I am opposed to the creation of a new public option health plan for two reasons. We already have 60 public health plans that could be 'options' without creating another new government infrastructure. Don't know what I'm talking about? Serving 30% of Americans already are these 60 plans:

• TRICARE
• Veterans Health Administration
• Medicare
• Healthcare Group of Arizona
• Indian Health Services
• 55 Medicaid plans—each with a variety of public and private options within those
  

My point is that there is no reason to duplicate the administrative expense of these 60 plans and create another public option health plan. Let's just open up the 60 existing public option plans—and the 300+ plans available under the FEHBP—to the American public.

For a great description of existing U.S. public health benefit plans, check out the reviews at propublica.com, Grading the Public Options That Already Exist.