Kaiser Health News’ Jordan Rau reports that, even if current health care proposals (Rau focuses on the House bill) were to pass, the resulting coverage would still fall short of universal and affordable, with many families slipping through the cracks and facing medical expenditures every bit as onerous as those they face today. Rau carefully picks through the coverage and points out the biggest holes, explaining how they arose and identifying the relevant trade-offs and contributing factors.
Under the House proposal, people receiving government subsidies could still end up spending 20 percent or more of their annual incomes on premiums, deductibles and co-insurance, according to estimates prepared by the House Committee on Ways and Means and obtained by Kaiser Health News. That financial load could grow substantially if the proposal’s financing — $1 trillion over a decade — is pared back as congressional leaders come under pressure to reduce the legislation’s costs.
