Current Event #6

Washington Post- Sunday, November 1, 2009
Article- States likely to shape health reform

There is a debate whether to let states opt out of any government-run health insurance plan. When Washington is done with the plan, the shape of a new health-care system is likely to be finalized. Besides allowing the states to opt out, their are a multitude of decisions to be made ranging from what benefits are being offered to low-income families and what obstacles to put in front of private insurance companies before they can raise premiums. There are positives and negatives to this issues though. Positive, States are often positioned to reflect the believes of the residents and market conditions. Negative, States can mess up and now meet the minimum requirements. States could let low-income families shop the exchanges or offer them some other kind of coverage. Each state is able to establish their own exchange and decide which insurers have access to the market. Experts are concerned that states will not meet their share of the cost to reform. Some states are well-positioned to manage a new federal program that seeks to cover the uninsured while others are not. Expanding medicaid eligibility to all adults who earn enough, more than the federal poverty level, will dramatically increase the number of people insured.

I think states should have the ability to chose what they will offer. Some states might not have the requirement to support this system. Hopefully they find a way so the postives outweigh the negatives. The government has found a good way to increase the number of people, who are hurting financially, to become eligible to be insured. All states need to work on being able to run this new plan and reach out to the people who really need it.