Health care: Most wouldn't have public option

[DearAbby]

Health care: Most wouldn't have public option
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's gambit to include a government-run insurance option in health care legislation has given a fresh tailwind to the idea despite opposition from conservatives.


But lost amid the ideological battle for or against a public option is a key overlooked fact: The vast majority of Americans would have no access to a public option even under its most expansive versions.

House and Senate bills limit the option to the smallest businesses and to individuals who cannot get insurance, or whose health care costs exceed 12.5 percent of their income. Even seven years into an overhaul, an estimated 90 percent of Americans, including nearly everyone who has employer-based coverage now, would be shut out of a public option.

Those currently in other government programs, such as Medicare and the Veterans Administration, also would be excluded.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/29/MNAL1ABCOT.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0VMPej3R3