Key committees in the House and Senate have unveiled plans to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care.

In the Senate

Senate Finance has released three papers outlining reform options and will soon choose among these to craft their legislation.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has released a 615-page draft bill (pdf); additional components are expected to be added to address contentious issues like the creation of a public health insurance option to compete with private insurance plans, and how to finance reform. A summary of the bill’s sections (pdf) is also available.

PHI applauds Senator Ted Kennedy, HELP committee chair, for including language in the bill that will:

• Provide grants to train direct-care workers.
• Develop a National Health Care Workforce Commission whose mission it is to provide comprehensive information to Congress and the Administration about how to align federal health care workforce resources with national needs.
• Create a new national insurance plan, with voluntary payroll deductions, enabling adults who have or develop functional impairments to pay for services to help them remain independent, employed and living at home.

In the House

In the House, the three committees with jurisdiction — Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor– compiled a three-page outline (pdf) of their joint proposal.

Leaders of the three committees briefed the full House Democratic Caucus on their outline Tuesday and in a  joint statement released the same day said, “We will continue to seek input and work closely with our colleagues, outside stakeholders, and the administration and are on track to introduce legislation shortly. We anticipate committee action on health reform in the coming weeks, with legislation on the House floor prior to the August district work period.”

The House plan would:

• Reorganize the private insurance market, creating a national health insurance exchange where individuals or employers could obtain coverage.
• Require individuals to obtain insurance and employers to help pay for it.
• Create a public health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers.

States would have the option of creating their own exchanges instead of participating in the national exchange. Insurers would be prohibited from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions and could not charge higher premiums based on gender, health status, or occupation. Premiums would be higher for older people, but the increase would be limited.

The plan would cap out-of-pocket spending by patients to prevent bankruptcies due to medical costs. Some studies suggest that more than half of all personal bankruptcies are due to medical bills.