The leading Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are proposing two very different approaches to reform the U.S. healthcare system, according to an analysis released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute. Democrats promise broader and more immediate changes to decrease costs, improve quality, and mandate coverage for the uninsured. The Republicans have similar goals but less detailed proposals that mostly rely on tax credits or incentives for individuals to purchase insurance without federal mandates.
According to the report, Beyond the Sound Bite: November 2007 Review of Presidential Candidates’ Proposals for Health Reform, both parties’ plans will expand the federal government’s role in health care, drive growth in the private insurance market, and affect consumer pocketbooks and business bottom lines in significantly different ways.
Among key findings of the report, both parties’ approaches may have far-reaching consequences for the insurance market with a huge boost to the individual market and some of the first cracks at the historically employer-dominated insurance system. Republicans want to grow the individual market through tax incentives and deemphasize the employer sponsored insurance market, while Democrats want to mandate individual and employer insurance. Either approach is likely to expand the existing private insurance market, which has seen minimal growth recently despite the introduction of tax-advantaged health savings accounts. Access the report.
