Wyden 'free choice' proposal added to Senate bill

Update (1:11PM): It turns out that Wyden's legislation has not been folded into the actual legislation yet -- it still must attract 60 votes to be included. However, both Reid and Baucus have endorsed it.

Original post:

Mike Lillis of TWI:

Reid, Baucus Approve Wyden’s ‘Free Choice’ Proposal

Senate Democratic leaders have amended their newly released health reform bill to include a contentious provision allowing some workers to receive cash vouchers toward exchange coverage in lieu of enrolling in employer-based plans.

Wyden's office describes the proposal thusly (emphasis added):

Under the Senate legislation as it is currently written, Americans with employer-provided coverage, whose income is below 400 percent of the federal poverty level and whose premiums are between 8 and 9.8 percent of their total income will be exempt from having to purchase health coverage but will not be able to access the exchange to qualify for government assistance to purchase insurance.  The agreed to amendment will make it possible for these individuals to convert their tax-free employer health subsidies into vouchers that they can use to choose a health insurance plan in the new health insurance exchanges.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates a previous version of this provision will expand coverage to more than a million Americans.

Given that only about one million people will be impacted, this isn't a radical policy shift, but it does represent an important first step in opening health insurance exchanges to more Americans and creating more health insurance options for the public.

Perhaps more importantly, it's an example of the kinds of things that legislators will need to continue doing once health care reform is passed. Although the health reform bills do establish a framework for reform -- with both insurance exchanges and a public option in addition to subsidies and new insurance regulations -- the bills don't go as far as they should. But because they do put a framework for progress in place, they can be continually improved, allowing us to whittle away at the problems in our system with pieces of legislation like Wyden's.