At last night's Democratic debate, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spent a big chunk of time laying out the party's biggest policy goal–establishing universal health insurance. But that was just days after an ambitious, bi-partisan reform program died in the California Senate–an ominous sign for the concept's supporters.
The California Senate Health Committee defeated the reform proposal by a 7-to-1 vote, with three abstentions, much to the chagrin of the state's progressive Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill would have been more along the lines of what Hillary Clinton has been pushing–with universal coverage achieved by mandating everyone to buy insurance, while addressing affordability issues with government subsidies, and availability challenges settled by prohibiting insurers from turning away applicants on the basis of pre-existing conditions or age.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
