Democrats’ Plans To Provide Coverage to the Uninsured Shows President Bush’s Plan is ‘Out of Step,’ Columnist Says

While an "interesting dichotomy" has arisen within the Democratic Party in its different strategies for reforming America's health care system to provide coverage for the uninsured, President Bush's plan to use tax credits toward that end is the "easiest to dismiss," columnist Thomas Oliphant writes in the Boston Globe. Recently, former Vice President Al Gore has called for "national health insurance" and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has proposed a plan that "relies heavily on the private sector" (Oliphant, Boston Globe, 11/26). Kennedy on Nov. 21 said he will introduce legislation that would require employers with five or more workers to provide health insurance coverage to workers and their dependents. Under Kennedy's plan, employers would pay 75% of the cost of coverage and employees would pay 25%. The government would provide subsidies to low-income workers to help cover the cost of premiums. The coverage would have to be "as good as" the health plans that are available to federal workers. By requiring employers to provide such coverage, 80% of the 41 million uninsured would be covered, according to Kennedy's office (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/22). Meanwhile, Gore, who is still deciding whether to run for the presidency in 2004, on Nov. 20 said that his potential campaign would offer "bolder ideas" -- such as a single-payer health care system -- than his failed 2000 presidential campaign. Gore said that he has "reluctantly come to the conclusion" that a single-payer health care system would serve as the most effective proposal to provide universal health coverage in the United States. Gore has not offered details about what kind of system he would support (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/21). According to Oliphant, "conventional wisdom" would have it that a "battle is brewing" among Democrats, to the "delight" of Republicans. However, Oliphant writes that Bush is "still trying to fit the square peg of tax credits into the round hole of immense gaps in basic coverage for working families." According to Oliphant, Bush's plan is "so far out of step" that HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has asked the National Academy of Sciences to develop recommendations for achieving full coverage. Oliphant concludes, "Gore's recent move has increased attention to a national crisis that is President Bush's responsibility and for which he has nothing to offer" (Boston Globe, 11/26).