The fifth, and latest, health care reform proposal was approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, October 13th.
The bill gives tax credits to low- and middle-class individuals and families to help offset the expense of purchasing health insurance. It also expands Medicaid.
Its greatest strength, however, lies in its design to restructure the privatized insurance system, which currently allows for insurance companies to deny coverage for, or based on, pre-existing conditions, raise rates arbitrarily, and cancel policies altogether when injury or disease prove to be costly to treat.
One of the bills weaknesses is the requirement that employers who don’t, or can’t, offer a health insurance package to employees cover the additional costs for the government-subsidized coverage employees may qualify for. Another weakness, according to Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post: “The package, coming in at under $900 billion over 10 years, is the least generous in terms of subsidies for working- and middle-class Americans to purchase health insurance, and it does not include a national public health insurance option.”
The over-arching goal seems to be to start with something, anything that may lead to more aggressive health care reform down the line, reform that will be easier to both organize and actualize.
Today, however, the U.S. Census Bureau puts the number of uninsured Americans at 46.3 million. 37% of Californians, or about twelve million of those Americans, were without health insurance during some or all of 2007 and 2008, according to familiesusa.org, and that number has likely increased in tandem with the increase in unemployment. In Los Angeles, more than two million people are living without health insurance, a figure that reflects LA County’s standing as having the third highest rate of uninsured among all major American cities.
This bill, along with the bill passed by the Senate Health Committee in July, will ultimately become part of a compromise bill put to debate on the Senate floor.
If you live in Southern California and are currently uninsured, or considering changing your policy, contact Todd Fries at (323) 464-8633 Todd is a health insurance agent in the Los Angeles area with more than fifteen years of experience. He will work to find health coverage that fits your needs and budget. Consultations are FREE. | 
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