Once the White House is sufficiently sanitized for Joe Biden to move in, he will face a daunting list of tasks to fix the damage done in the past four years to public health and health care. I'll address the public health issues anon -- a lot of it to do with the EPA, but much else also. Today, however, Larry Levitt writing for the JAMA Health Forum provides us with a list of items Biden has already promised in his campaign platform, and other initiatives he could pursue with a Democratically controlled congress.
Because of the absurd complexity of health care financing in the U.S. -- which gets us less for our money than any other nation on earth -- and given the obstacles to achieving radical simplification, the list is necessarily long and disparate. But these measure generally have the intent of making health care more affordable, accessible, equitable, and cost-effective. Here's the Big Enchilada, that Levitt kind of buries in his bullet list:
Creating a public option health plan administered by Medicare that would be available to anyone, including free coverage for people with low incomes in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.
Bada bing, bada boom. Let us suppose this can get by Joe Manchin, who is about to become the King of the United States. Further let us suppose that it turns out to be cheaper than private insurance and just as good if not better. Our century long battle will be over. Don't hold your breath, but don't give up the fight either.
1 comment:
And give every federally managed program the power to negotiate prices on everything! Free market, baby!
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