Clinton's Health Plan

Senator Clinton’s health plan has been unveiled. In a nutshell:

“Americans can keep their existing coverage or access the same menu of quality private insurance options that their Members of Congress receive through a new Health Choices Menu, established without any new bureaucracy as part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). In addition to the broad array of private options that Americans can choose from, they will be offered the choice of a public plan option similar to Medicare.”

There’s something to be said for the notion of building on an existing program instead of starting a new bureaucracy. I would like to see this extended to other areas of the federal government. For example, various entitlement payments such as Social Security and VA benefits might be administered by a single agency. Management of federal lands could be handled by the Bureau of Land Management instead of the congeries of agencies that do it now.

On the other hand, the plan raises a lot of questions. If you manage a health insurance provider, will you want to be part of the group of companies on the approved list? Would it be worth it to submit to the rules in order to do so? What will employers who already provide coverage do now that they won’t have these benefits as leverage over their employees? Won’t health care become even more expensive once more people have access to it?

I reckon that it will become necessary to control costs by regulating lifestyles and prohibiting unhealthy behaviors. Then again, this will mean folks will live longer so that Social Security will be even more strained. The retirement age will eventually be 100 when 100 becomes the new 65.