Baucus Health Plan is Fatally Flawed

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Plan Could Be Economic Disaster According to NCPA Economist

The sweeping health reform plan proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus suffers from several expensive and fatal flaws, according to a National Center for Policy Analysis health economist.

NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick called the Baucus proposal a "blueprint for economic disaster in health care coverage for Americans."

"The end result of Baucus' plan would destroy any choices that consumers have to select health coverage that meets their individual needs," said Herrick. "We would be stuck with a government-designed and regulated health plan that will drive up costs and limit access for too many consumers."

"Whenever these types of regulations are imposed at the state level, premiums have jumped two to three times the national average," said Herrick, a noted NCPA health economist. "Mandated coverage would force consumers to buy plans with benefits they may not want at prices they cannot afford."

The Baucus plan includes many of the same elements implemented in the Massachusetts mandated health plan, which Herrick said is now suffering from massive cost over-runs for the state and escalating premium costs for consumers." He added, "Many newly insured patients have been unable to find doctors willing to treat them under the new reimbursement levels."

The solution, said Herrick, is portable coverage that moves with workers from job to job, and that allows families to choose the level of benefits they need at a cost they can afford.

"The bottom line," said Herrick, "is that the Baucus plan will exacerbate current problems of skyrocketing costs and limited access while creating a huge burden for individual taxpayers and businesses. There is no such thing as free health care."

Herrick is a preeminent expert on 21st century medicine, including a variety of critical health care issues, such as health insurance and the uninsured, patient empowerment and trends in state health policy reform.