The U.S. Congress announced the following on 4/24/09:

At a meeting with reporters on Friday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he will temporarily set aside talks on a new public insurance option to focus on maintaining employer self-insurance plans, CQ Today reports. Self-insured companies qualify for tax exemptions through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The federal law allows firms to create their own tax-exempt insurance plan — a means of cutting costs by taking on the risks themselves — as long as the plans meet federal standards laid out by ERISA. Firms contract with private insurers to administer the plans. Baucus said he would aim to preserve this self-insurance system while expanding private coverage and public programs such as Medicaid. He said, “We’ll end up with more private insurance and more public insurance” (Armstrong, CQ Today, 4/24).

As for the creation of a new public insurance option, Baucus said that it is “on the table,” adding that it “might be to the side a little bit, … but it’s still on the table.” He added, “We’re trying to get momentum going. We’ll get to the public option a little later. Let’s not forget: There’s an awful lot more here than the public option” (Young, The Hill, 4/24).

Baucus said he would support a “system similar to Massachusetts,” which allows residents to buy coverage through a “connector” offering plans that meet government-established benefit minimums. He also said, “I think the whole system should be more national, and the benefits have to be more national. You can’t have benefits be one level in one state, and another level in other states.” However, he said his goal is not to disrupt employer-sponsored plans. According to Baucus, “The system I envision is where self-insured companies, ERISA companies, can keep their own plans and manage health insurance in the way that they have. We’re not going to change the ways self-insured companies handle health care for employees.” As for workers at smaller firms that do not offer insurance and other people buying insurance on their own, Baucus said they could purchase insurance through the exchange that would be similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. He also said, “We have to reform the health insurance market” by guaranteeing that people are able to purchase insurance (CQ Today, 4/24).

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.