WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group representing health plans and hospitals proposed health insurance reforms that would revise payment systems on Tuesday, clashing with a respected private foundation that proposed much more extensive reforms.The idea from Commonwealth Fund, published in the May/June issue of the journal Health Affairs, calls for all companies to be required to help fund health insurance in the United States and for the establishment of a government entity to sell low-priced plans to small businesses and individuals, as part of a plan to dramatically shrink the rolls of the uninsured.
That plan met with opposition from the industry group, underscoring the difficulty in any attempt at reforming the health care system. "The U.S. is the only industrialized country that doesn't cover everyone," Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis said, in previewing her plan in a press briefing on Monday. Her goal is influence the debate over health reform, seeing an opportunity for change when a new president takes office in 2009.
Escalating costs and limited access to quality medical care in the U.S. are among the top domestic health issues cited by voters in national polls ahead of the November election. The Commonwealth plan would build on the current employer-based system, which finances health care for about 160 million Americans. The number of people without medical insurance in the United States is now estimated at 47 million, or about 15 percent of the U.S. population.
news source : http://uk.reuters.com/
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