Christian Science Monitor Examines Health Care Spending in Economic Stimulus Package

The $819 billion economic stimulus package that the House approved on Wednesday includes funds "aimed at pumping cash into the ailing economy at the same time they shore up the nation's unraveling health care system," the Christian Science Monitor reports. Among other provisions, the stimulus package includes $87 billion in additional federal Medicaid funds for states; $29 billion to subsidize health insurance premiums for recently unemployed workers under COBRA; $20 billion for health care information technology; and $11 billion to allow low-income workers who lose jobs that did not provide health insurance to apply for Medicaid. The stimulus package also includes a provision that would allow recently unemployed workers ages 55 and older or those with at least 10 years of tenure at their jobs to continue to receive health insurance through COBRA until they find a new job that offers coverage or reach age 65, when they can enroll in Medicare.

According to the Monitor, although the provisions that would expand Medicaid eligibility and provide COBRA subsidies "are being described as temporary," some "health care reform advocates hope they will serve as building blocks to bring about a reform to the health care system." Meanwhile, some opponents "worry they could be the start of the nationalization of health care," the Monitor reports. However, many of those opponents "believe that preventing the newly unemployed from also joining the ranks of the 47 million Americans without health insurance trumps the larger ideological battle over health care reform -- at least for now," according to the Monitor.

The Monitor reports that the Medicaid and COBRA provisions "might be one of the most visible and popular provisions of the stimulus plan." A survey recently released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health asking U.S. residents about provisions in the stimulus package, showed that efforts to help recently unemployed workers afford health insurance ranked second behind helping businesses keep jobs. Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health, explained that helping the newly uninsured was not listed as a healthcare issue, adding, "It was listed as an economic stimulus issue: Helping people who just lost their jobs pay their health insurance is something that people can really see as instant relief."

Some business groups, which support the provision that would provide COBRA subsidies, oppose the provision that would expand eligibility for the program. According to business groups, the provision would increase costs for current employees because only recently unemployed workers with serious medical conditions would purchase health insurance through COBRA indefinitely. Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, said, "It would amount to a huge tax on employers at the worst possible time" (Marks, Christian Science Monitor, 1/30).