Health Care Reform - One Step Closer

The big news today was the house of representatives releasing its health care plan, from a quick read of the bill and early pundit reaction, it seems like a good plan. At the least, a great first step.

The major points:

• A public plan! In my opinion, one of the must haves of any reform to help get costs under control
• Some new taxes on those making over $300K including a 5.4% tax increase on those making over $1 million
• Caps out of pocket expenses for the insured
• No denying of coverage on pre-existing conditions
• Use reimbursement rates in Medicare to focus on quality of care instead of quantity

And the total cost seems like a quite a deal, as Krugman says:

OK, so the CBO score for the 3-committee House health care plan is in: $1 trillion over the next decade for 97 percent coverage of legal residents.

That’s a bargain: the catastrophe of being ill without insurance, the fear of losing insurance, all ended — for much less than the Bush administration’s useless $1.35 trillion first tax cut, quickly followed by another $350 billion.

I'll be following this closely the next few weeks.