Specifics Emerge On Health Care Reform Packages

The outlines of a Democratic-backed health care overhaul are beginning to solidly take shape as lawmakers round up Democrat and Republican support for the proposal.

The Wall Street Journal on what is likely to be included in the plan: "The broad aim of the overhaul is to expand insurance coverage to most of the 46 million Americans who currently lack it, and to reorient the health system so medical costs increase at a slower rate." The goals may seem at odds. "Covering most of the nation's uninsured is estimated to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. But advocates of an overhaul say getting these people insured puts the system on a path to lower costs by reducing their expensive use of emergency rooms and helping them stay healthy in the first place. Any plan would increase the government's involvement in the health system, one of the most contentious elements of the debates" (Adamy, 9/9).