Lieberman Offers Plan to Widen Health Coverage
By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 3, 2003; Page A02
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), accusing President Bush of neglecting the nation's health care crisis, unveiled a proposal yesterday to provide care to 31 million uninsured Americans within 10 years.
On a visit to Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, the Democratic presidential candidate laid out a detailed health plan that in the early stages would target children, unemployed adults and people over the age of 50 who have retired but do not yet qualify for Medicare.
"George W. Bush didn't create these problems -- but he has turned his back on them, and by doing so, he's made them worse," Lieberman said from a pint-sized lectern in the school library. "He's let the sickness and side effects in the health care system spread and get worse."
A moderate Democrat who was Al Gore's running mate in 2000, Lieberman said that he has devised the most economical plan of those offered by the Democratic contenders, an assertion supported by independent analyst Kenneth Thorpe. "My plan will provide coverage to more than 31 million currently uninsured Americans -- at the lowest per person cost of any presidential candidate," Lieberman said.
Thorpe, a Clinton administration official who teaches health care economics at Emory University, estimated that Lieberman's proposal would cost the federal government $53 billion a year, or $747 billion over the next decade.
According to Thorpe's analysis, Lieberman's plan covers about the same number of uninsured but for significantly less money, in part because it takes longer to be phased in. A plan offered by Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) would cost $2.5 trillion over 10 years, and former Vermont governor Howard Dean's proposal would cost $932 billion, according to Thorpe's analysis.
The plans of Democratic Sens. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and John Edwards (N.C.) would reach fewer people, Thorpe found.
Like several of his opponents, Lieberman would expand government health programs such as Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, called CHIP, though he would offer more generous subsidies to middle-income families. And Lieberman would create two new private insurance programs to be administered by the government.
Modeled after the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, Lieberman's MediKids and MediChoice would offer guaranteed, comprehensive coverage through large, low-cost purchasing pools. To keep the cost down, Lieberman would cap insurer profits at 2 percent, as the federal program does now. His aides predicted that insurers would be willing to accept limited profits in exchange for the "tens of thousands, if not millions, of new customers."
As president, Lieberman said, he would streamline costly and burdensome paperwork in the medical system and push for more evidence-based medicine. He would also guarantee laid-off workers two months' insurance and establish a tax credit for long-term care insurance.
Lieberman made his announcement at Broad Acres to spotlight the school's health center, which provides comprehensive physical and mental health care to children and uninsured parents. If elected, he would increase federal grants for such centers, he said. "I want to see if we can open thousands more school-based health centers," he said after a tour of the Linkages to Learning center.
Lieberman did not specify where he would find the money for his health proposal or for a proposed $150 billion American Center for Cures.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company |
