Bradley Uninsured Proposal Would Help, Hinder Uninsured Americans

Sep 28, 1999

September 28, 1999

e-mail: rcoorsh@hiaa.org

The following statement was released today by Chip Kahn, President of the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA):

We commend Senator Bradley (D-NJ) for offering a realistic and thoughtful proposal to address the nation's most pressing domestic priority: to provide health coverage to uninsured Americans. If left unattended, the number of uninsured Americans is likely to rise to up to 55 million Americans within the next decade.

HIAA's InsureUSA proposal, released in May of this year, would provide coverage to most of the nation's uninsured through expanded government assistance for the poorest of the poor, and through the use of tax reforms and targeted vouchers. Senator Bradley's proposal contains several elements that are similar to those contained in InsureUSA, such as premium subsidies for low-income families with children and for poor adults, and a 100 percent tax deduction for consumers who don't get their coverage from their employer.

The devil is always in the details. We are concerned that aspects of Senator Bradley's proposal would lead to expensive so-called patient protection mandates. Ultimately, these mandates will increase costs to consumers, and will increase the number of uninsured Americans. Even a "modest" one percent increase would cause many employers and consumers to drop their coverage.

Senator Bradley estimates that his proposal would cost about $60 billion a year, which closely corresponds to cost estimates for HIAA's "InsureUSA" proposal. However, his realistic cost estimate is undermined by "patient protection" mandates that likely would increase the number of uninsured Americans.

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