Health Care Solutions

I have spent a lot of time slamming Universal Health Care lately so I thought I should at least talk about a workable alternate. My friend Gary Gross (at LFR) has the story of a bill working it's way through the Minnesota House that would provide more coverage, to more people and will end up saving the state a pretty penny to boot.

REP. GOTTWALT’S HEALTH CARE REFORM INITIATIVE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES COMMITTEE

ST. PAUL - State Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, today presented a health care reform bill (HF1865) that would improve how Minnesota provides health care coverage to low-income adults, while saving the state an estimated $100 million per year.

Gottwalt presented the Healthy Minnesota Plan (HMP) to the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee, which unanimously approved the bill, moving it on to the Health and Human Services Finance Division.

The HMP would cover 84,000 Minnesota adults currently on MinnesotaCare with a more generous private market benefit package, and a deductible covered mostly by the state. The plan would pay providers market rates for the health care they deliver, eliminating cost-shifting, and opening more health care access to those enrolled in the plan.

The HMP would save state administrative costs, provide greater flexibility for the enrollee, tap into savings of large private insurance pools, and fit well with other health care reform initiatives. Gottwalt described the bill as a “demonstration project that will improve care for 84,000 Minnesotans, and save the state about $200 million in the coming biennium.”

The bill (HF1865) can be found here. MNCARE is Minnesota's SCHIP program for those outside of the state. Under Rep. Gottwalt's bill (which has heavy bi-partisan support I should add), MNCARE would cover everything that other health care plans cover - eyewear, dental, prescriptions, preventative medicine - the whole 9 yards! Premiums and co-pays are based on the insured's ability to pay which gives it more flexibility than the current MNCARE plan. All in all, it is a win-win reform.

These are the types of health care reform that we should be looking at in each state and in DC. It really is the best of both worlds in that it makes insurance available to more people, at a reduced cost and without the government taking over a huge sector of the private market. A hearty "well done" goes out to Rep. Gottwalt and his co-sponsors. Way to lead.