Welch pushes public health care option
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Peter Welch |
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By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: June 12, 2009
MONTPELIER – U.S. Rep. Peter Welch introduced a bill this week that is the centerpiece of President Obama's health care reform plans: The creation of a public health insurance plan run by the federal government.
Welch, a Vermont Democrat, joined two colleagues from the U.S. House on Wednesday in unveiling the Choice in Health Options Insures Care for Everyone Act, creating a public health insurance plan that would compete in the private field.
That plan is one of the main components of Obama's proposed reforms for the industry – and could also prove to be one of the more controversial proposals as the insurance industry and others in the medical field line up against the plan.
Welch, who supports Obama's plans, said he is aware that the battle over health care reform will be difficult. But he said the atmosphere for reform is vastly different than the early 1990s, when a major overhaul of the system blew up in the face of the Clinton administration.
"During the Clinton era, Harry and Louise killed that plan," Welch said, referring to a famous commercial funded by the insurance industry opposed to a government health plan. "Now, Harry and Louise don't have any health insurance. A lot has changed."
Under Welch's proposal, the federal government would create its own health insurance plan, funded entirely by premiums, for open enrollment in the market. Advocates of this plan say the system can be run cheaper and more efficiently than the plans offered by the private insurance companies, which make a profit off of the plans they offer to customers.
Opponents of the plan – the insurance industry, House and Senate Republicans and some conservative congressional Democrats – say the move amounts to a government takeover of the health insurance field.
But Welch said a public option for health insurance will force the private companies to compete. He said the private companies likely try to keep premiums as low as they can, but those companies also have an "obligation to their shareholders to maximize profits."
"This is what we know: The system is broken," Welch said. "The cost of insurance is increasing every year. Americans are going without health insurance. They need another option."
Anticipating a battle, groups supporting Obama's health care plans have already started spreading the word. Members of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont AFL-CIO and True Majority are traveling to Washington, D.C. on June 25 to attend a health care rally that is expected to draw 20,000 people.
Susan Baker, the health care advocate for VPIRG, said they are enthusiastic about Welch's bill – along with companion legislation introduced in their other chamber by U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.
VPIRG is a supporter of a single-payer health care system, Baker said, and Welch's public option insurance proposal is a step in that direction. Congress needs to stand strong against attempts to water-down the legislation, she said.
"We find that people do still have questions about this plan," Baker said. "But once you start explaining to them what it actually means, they understand it and they like it. I think there is a lot of support out there for this."
Welch said the federal government's public option insurance plan would be similar to another health program he helped create when he was the president pro tem of the Vermont Senate: Catamount Health.
Launched in the fall of 2007 (it was passed during Welch's final term in office as a state senator), Catamount Health is a state-sponsored insurance program for the uninsured that is administered by the private insurance field.
"Catamount provided an option for many people who didn't have one," Welch said.
But there are clear differences, too. Catamount limited its base to Vermonters who were without insurance for more than one year, making it less of a competitor to the plans already offered in the private insurance field.
Catamount has been successful in Vermont, Welch said, but true reform of the system requires changing the delivery system of care.
"If all we do is dump a pot of taxpayer money into the system, than we haven't really done anything," Welch said.
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.
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