President-elect Obama and the Future of Healthcare
Even though he hasn’t taken up residence in the White House just yet, we have a new President. Barack Obama will be sworn in come January 2009, and in his suitcase of changes he wants to see made in this country is a revamping of the health insurance system.
Some of you may have voted for Obama based on what he is promising to do for health care, and other of you may have been McCain supporters, or simply do not know what Obama stands for in the realm of health care. No matter where you stand or what you know, the following account will serve to educate you on what Obama aims to do with healthcare and insurance here in the United States, and how it may effect you and your life.
Obama’s Plan for Health Insurance
“Yes we can.” The phrase uttered hopefully by so many embodied the spirit of the Obama Presidential campaign. Now that he has won the race and is getting ready to sit in the big boy chair, what can Obama do for our health insurance system. Currently, there are 47 million people in this country without health insurance. During his campaign, different sources made it seem like Obama favored a universal health care system (seen in many European countries) but in reality, that is not what he is proposing.
Obama wants to create a structure that would be like a universal health care system for the children in America: he’s proposing to create a system in which each and every child has health insurance. This is a wonderful thing, but do not be entirely wooed by its romanticism. While it’s crucial for a child to be given every opportunity for a healthy and happy life, what about when they grow up and stop being a child? Unless they have some other means of health insurance, the care they have come to depend on will cease.
Obama and Medicaid
In keeping with opening his arms to those currently without insurance, Obama’s plan seeks to expand Medicaid eligibility to greater numbers of the uninsured. Hopefully this step will help drop that number of 47 million down quite significantly. And for those who end up still not qualifying for Medicaid, Obama says he plans to offer subsidies to lower-income individuals and small business to help offset the cost of purchasing insurance themselves.
President-Elect Obama’s Plan for Employer-Paid Health Insurance
In order to encourage employees to continue or start providing employer-paid-for health insurance, Obama plans to tax medium to large size firms that deny health insurance coverage to their employees. On the same note, small businesses will not be required to provide their employees with health insurance but would receive a 50% tax credit of health care premiums for employees, so the employees could go out and afford to purchase their own plans if they so desired.
Tomorrow we’ll review some of President-elect Obama’s plans on how to go about funding and changing the insurance and health care climate in the coming years, as well as some potential pitfalls of trying to make such drastic changes in an entrenched health care system.
photo credit: Center for American Progress Action Fund
Tags: barack obama, health care, health insurance, health reform, healthcare, president
