Health Insurance Reform and the “Public Option”: Should we care??

The Health insurance reform debate has taken a very interesting turn over the last few weeks, with one of the core areas of controversy being the inclusion of a “Public Option” framework imposed by the Federal Government. This provision, opens an avenue or “option” for individuals, small businesses and the self employed to access cheaper health insurance through government programs. But is it really worth the effort??

Patrick Yoest of Dow Jones Newswires, reported that “U.S. Senate moderates on Tuesday praised a proposal to allow states to establish public health-insurance plans as part of health-care legislation, giving it a boost as a possible alternative to a public plan run by the federal government.”

The significance of this compromise will be that each State will have “authority to set up their own health-insurance plan or a non-profit “co-op,” or to allow their residents to enroll in that state’s employee health benefits plan.” This will open doors for new types of joint venture strategy and partnership between States and small business, an enticing proposition in these challenging times.

Susan Ferrechio, Chief Congressional Correspondent at the Washington Examiner, on October 6th, reported on the approach now being presented and circulated among law makers of a “trigger-induced public option, or a system of state-run health insurance plans,”  but also indicated that these proposals were “not guaranteed”

The critical question to be asked however by small businesses need to ask is will these changes ultimately lead to lowering health insurance costs to your business?  Familiarity with the health insurance debate and the opening of  a broader or different definition of what the “public option” structure will be and how it will be included in the range of private health insurance programs, should answer that question over the long run.

The challenge here is to formulate a system with a public and private health insurance mix that benefits as many of the interests as possible without facilitating the spiraling health insurance costs that the nation is saddled with.

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