I’m liking the sound of this:
Now, nearly a decade later, two centrist Democrats have offered a proposal for a public health plan that is far more aggressive than the 2009 House bill’s public option. Neither Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) nor Michael Bennet (D-CO) represents the Democratic Party’s rightmost flank, but both have distanced themselves considerably from the Democratic caucus’ left faction as well. Kaine threw cold water on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VA) proposal for a single-payer system, saying that he would rather offer “more choices” for health plans. Bennet, meanwhile, has also sounded cool on single-payer.
Yet Kaine and Bennet’s alternative to Sanders’ rapid transition to single-payer would still be a significant step towards the universal coverage and lower costs that a nationwide single-payer system would offer. Indeed, it may be the leftmost proposal that has a realistic chance of becoming law in the next decade. And, should it become law, it offers the United States a path to single-payer that simply does not exist right now.
Kaine and Bennet want to create a new public health plan, which they label “Medicare-X.” This plan would be available to non-elderly individuals on the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges. As the Washington Post’s Paul Kane summarizes this new health plan, it “would allow anyone to buy into a publicly provided plan using the network of Medicare providers and physicians, at similar rates, with lower-income workers receiving tax credits for the plan.”
The plan would initially be available only in “areas where there is a shortage of insurers or higher health care costs due to less competition,” according to a statement circulated by Bennet and Kaine’s offices. By 2023, however, “Medicare-X would expand to every ZIP code in the country.” The next year, it would also be available on health exchanges serving small businesses and their employees.
Significantly, a spokesperson for Senator Bennet tells ThinkProgress, Medicare X would reimburse health providers for their services at the same rate as Medicare. This is a significant improvement over House Democrats’ 2009 proposal, which would have enabled health providers to charge higher rates to people covered by its public health plan than providers are allowed to charge Medicare.
Here’s why this important:
Bennet and Kaine are offering a proposal that they believe is both realistic and politically viable. The original targets for Medicare-X would be in rural areas that have been hardest hit by insurance providers fleeing ACA exchanges.
This would create, Bennet said in a statement given to The Washington Post, “a plan that begins to fix this problem by giving families and individuals a meaningful and affordable alternative.”
“Consumers can compare it with available private options and make the choice best for their health,” Kaine said.
Other Democrats have been trying to advance their own plans. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is proposing a bill that would allow people from ages 55 to 64 to buy into the actual Medicare program, while Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), sometimes mentioned as a 2020 contender, is preparing a buy-in proposal to Medicare that would be available to most of the public but would still compete with private insurers.
The public-insurance backup plan has gained currency in recent months as more insurers have withdrawn from the ACA’s marketplaces and left nearly half the nation’s counties with only one insurer in their marketplace for 2018.
These rural areas were the spots that broke most sharply against Clinton in the 2016 election, delivering larger shares of their votes to President Trump than to recent GOP nominees such as Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
That could make this proposal a more palatable offering for the 10 Democrats up for reelection in states that Trump won last year, as well as many others in competitive states.
Bennet and Kaine are both examples of the latter. Obama and Clinton won Colorado and Virginia in the past three presidential contests, but by small margins. Both have won close, highly contested Senate races, and both have experience in national politics as well — Bennet chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2014, while Kaine was his party’s vice-presidential nominee last year.
Still, this proposal shows that Democrats have moved to the left ideologically on health care. Eight years ago, the public option failed because moderate Democrats backed away from it; now a similar proposal is being offered as the safe ground for those facing a tough reelection.
Feel free to contact Kaine and Bennet’s offices for more details. Click below.
Tim Kaine
Michale Bennet
As both article point out, more and more members of our party are moving more left on health care and we have to keep it. Click here to donate and get involved with Kaine’s re-election bid.