Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), has released his 615-page healthcare reform legislation, which is considered to be the most liberal of the three reform bills that will emerge from the Senate and House, reports the Los Angeles Times. Kennedy’s bill has many similar provisions to those being drafted by the Senate Finance Committee and the three committees in the House, such as rewarding providers for high-quality care and prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions or charging higher premiums based on health status. But unlike the draft that Kennedy circulated last week, the bill released on Tuesday does not include the controversial option for a government-run health plan or the requirement that employers must provide insurance for their employees—deletions that were made to avoid alienating Republicans who oppose both principles, according to the Times.
Kennedy’s bill would expand Medicaid eligibility to Americans earning up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level and would provide subsidies to people with incomes at 500 percent of the poverty level to allow them to buy insurance. It also includes a federal long-term care insurance program with modest premiums that would allow people to receive care at home, and covers children up to the age of 26 on their parents’ insurance policies. In addition, the bill calls for all insurance plans to provide payment incentives for case management, care coordination, chronic disease management, discharge planning designed to prevent hospital readmissions, evidence-based care processes, and preventive care. Senator Christopher Dodd is leading HELP’s reform efforts while Kennedy receives treatment for brain cancer.
