Is A Public Option For Health Insurance Doable?

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Due to the passage of the new health care laws

, there has been a great deal of talk amongst the health care activist community regarding the "public option". While this has been touted as one of the best parts of the plan, it leaves people wondering if it is truly possible.

So what exactly is the public option? This term simply means that the general public will have more of a choice when selecting health care coverage. In other words, individuals will be able to compare overall benefits, companies, networks, prices, and general ratings of satisfaction in order to choose a plan that will provide the best options for themselves or their families. The public option takes this one step farther and offers an additional option to compare: a government insurance program. This means that the industry will change to a public vs. private competition, with the hopes of lowering the cost of care.

That being said, the new health care public option is meeting resistance because it can be set up in three possible ways:

"Single Payer Lite": This was the main argument made throughout the push for reform. In this set up, a public insurance program would be able to tap Medicare's resources to provide significant discounts for customers in order to provide a broad network and more efficiency. With time, this efficiency would make the plan very attractive for more and more people, offering better coverage for far less money. This would lead to the public plan becoming the main insurer for the majority of people, changing the face of the insurance world forever. Many people view this as a government run monopoly.
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"The Level Playing Field Plan": Because many insurers became quite upset over the thought of the single payer plan, this plan was conceptualized in order to "level the playing field". Therefore a public plan that was not able to use Medicare's resources was devised. This would basically mean the plan would just be insurance, without executives or shareholders in the mix.

"The Catch All Plan": This set up would be similar in nature to Medicaid's choice plan, and would offer a public insurance option for only those making less than a certain annual income.

So, is a public option for health insurance doable? Would it be an oppressive form of nationalized health care if it does come to fruition? These choices have yet to be answered by any of the lawmakers currently in power. What can be answered is that the plan, as it stands now, needs a major review and should be reworked in an effort to benefit the most people, at a price that is truly affordable.

by: Dominic Lin

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