| Kerry Health Plan |
Bush Health Plan |
| SUMMARY: Expands coverage to 98 percent of children and 95 percent of all Americans. Creates a re-insurance pool to help offset the cost of catastrophic claims above $50,000, which account for 20 percent of all health costs. Creates a new purchasing model based on the federal employees' plan, which all individuals, families and businesses can buy into. |
Relies on market competition and consumer options such as individual tax credits, Association Health Plans (AHPs) and Health Savings Accounts (which provide tax deductions for high income earners but will mean fewer services and higher costs for middle-to-low income families). |
| WORKING FAMILIES: Expands access to health coverage to virtually all children under 18 and many low-income adults by growing existing programs. All individuals and families will be able to buy into the new federal health plan at affordable rates. |
Tax credits up to $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families who purchase health care policies (the median premium cost for family coverage is now more than $9,000 a year). May provide an incentive for some employers to drop coverage. |
| EARLY RETIREES: Retirees age 55 to 65 — too young to qualify for Medicare — can enroll in the new federal plan. |
No additional coverage for pre-65 retirees; impartial studies indicate that the new Bush Medicare law may encourage some employers to drop retiree health coverage for over-65s. |
| UNEMPLOYED: Provides a 75 percent federal subsidy for COBRA — the law that lets the unemployed continue coverage under their former employer's plan (but, currently, at their own expense). |
No specifics. |
| PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: Requires federal government to negotiate cost of Medicare drugs. This will lower cost trend throughout the U.S. market. |
Prohibits Medicare from negotiating lower prices on seniors' drugs, resulting in windfall profits for the pharmaceutical industry. |
| HELP FOR STATES: Full cost of Medicaid/S-CHIP expansion for kids will be federally funded. Results in $15 billion savings for states. |
No specifics. |
| SAFETY NET: Saves $10 billion in reduction of uncompensated care and reinvests these funds into public hospitals and community health centers. Includes NO block grant that would weaken funding for Medicaid. |
Bush supports Medicaid block grant, which will reduce federal funds to states and ultimately limit access to health care for low income. Says he supports more community health centers, but block grant could actually force many safety-net facilities to dose. |
| BUSINESS: All employees are eligible for the new federal health plan. Small business employers receive 50 percent tax credit. If employer provides coverage for all employees and passes along savings to workers, federal government will offset 75 percent of the cost of catastrophic claims over $50,000. |
Supports AHPs — purchasing pools that, unlike other health plans, are NOT subject to state regulation (therefore, less secure for consumers). |
| HOW MANY MORE COVERED? An additional 27 million Americans |
An additional 2 million Americans. |
| COST PER NEWLY INSURED PERSON: $2,295 a year |
$3,285 a year |
| TOTAL PLAN COST: $90 billion over 10 years |
$653 billion over 10 years |
| WILL IT LOWER COSTS? Premium costs lowered by 10 percent. Prescription drugs costs will also drop. |
Doesn't cover enough of the uninsured to appreciably lower overall costs. |
| CAN WE PAY FOR IT WITHOUT HIGHER DEFICITS OR PROGRAM CUTS? Yes — by repealing the Bush tax cuts ONLY for those with incomes over $200,000 a year. |
No specifics. |
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