When Congress crafted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010, the public option — which essentially offers low-cost, comprehensive Medicare benefits to consumers through the health insurance marketplaces — was proposed as an alternative to private insurers. However, when President Obama signed the PPACA into law, the public option was not included and was a divisive partisan issue.
Rep. Schakowsky and others proposed H.R. 261 as a deficit measure, according to a news release. She said a public option could save the federal budget $104 billion over the next decade because private health insurers would have “to lower their premiums in order to compete.”
“American health consumers deserve a publicly-accountable, transparent and lower-cost option,” Rep. Schakowsky said in the release. “The bill…would provide that choice and lower the federal deficit at the same time. We cannot let for-profit insurance companies continue to prevent American consumers and American taxpayers from benefitting from passage of the public option.”
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