Health Care Reform on the Horizon?

The beginning stages of a major health care overhaul are underway on the Hill, according to a report today in the New York Times, but time will tell whether the passage of such reform-minded legislation will get mired in partisan disputes in the months to come. The chairmen of five Congressional committees have reached a consensus on the basic framework of a new health care system, and a timetable has been set, for July of this year, for bills to reach both houses of Congress. But here's the catch: so far, this particular discussion has been among Democrats only.

At issue are questions of how to cover some 47 million uninsured Americans without adding to the already ballooning deficit, as well as how government-provided insurance can exist alongside private coverage. President Obama and his as-yet-to-be-confirmed pick for secretary of Health and Human Services have both expressed support for reform via the option of government-provided care. But Democrats in the Senate have had ongoing meetings with lobbyists representing insurance firms and pharmaceutical companies, which have produced a series of agreements that, if Congress passed a law of requirement, would incentivize these private insurers to lower premiums and other health costs.

Certainly a host of other systematic and budget issues are at stake and have yet to be tackled. We know based, on existing survey data, that the public remains quite conflicted about proposals to require Americans to have health insurance and the issue of universal health care in general.

While there's no question that cost and access to health care are top concerns for the public, support for universal coverage falls when the possibility of paying more in insurance premiums or taxes is mentioned or responses change based on how the question is worded. But interestingly, two-thirds say government is responsible for making sure all Americans have health care coverage.

Be sure to check out our Discussion Guide in the Citizen's Survival Kit guide to Health Care, which lays out three choices frequently heard in the debate over America's health care system.