Hillary Clinton unveiled the third part of her plan to ensure that all Americans have affordable, quality health insurance. Building on her proposals to rein in costs and to insist on value and quality, her American Health Choices Plan will secure, simplify and ensure choice in health coverage for all Americans. This Plan covers every American - finally addressing the needs of the 47 million uninsured and the tens of millions of workers with coverage who fear they could be one pink slip away from losing their health coverage - with no overall increase in health spending or taxes. For those with health insurance, the plan builds on the current system to give businesses and their employees greater choice of health plans - including keeping the one they have - while lowering cost and improving quality. 1

Currently, the U.S. health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate. Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations ($7,129 per capita), the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. Moreover, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. leaves 47 million completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered. 2

The Same Choice of Health Plan Options that Members of Congress Receive: Americans can keep their existing coverage or access the same menu of quality private insurance options that their Members of Congress receive through a new Health Choices Menu, established without any new bureaucracy as part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). In addition to the broad array of private options that Americans can choose from, they will be offered the choice of a public plan option similar to Medicare. 3 Having health insurance is important because coverage helps people get timely medical care and improves their lives and health. Some may believe that people always have access to medical care because they can always go to an emergency room. But even areas with well supported safety-net care do not remove barriers to access to the same extent as does having health insurance. ldquo;Coverage matters,” concluded the Institute of Medicine (IOM) during a recent multiyear appraisal. Indeed, the prestigious IOM estimated that lack of coverage was associated with about 18,000 extra deaths per year among uninsured adults. Several points deserve emphasis. 4

The survey also found that the percentage of all workers receiving health coverage from their employer in 2004 is 61%, about the same as in 2003 (62%) but down significantly from the recent peak of 65% in 2001. As a consequence, there are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than 2001. A likely contributing factor is a decline in the percentage of small employers (three to 199 workers) offering health insurance over this period. In 2004, 63% of all small firms offer health benefits to their workers, down from 68% in 2001. 5

In 2003, spending on health and insurance administration commanded 7.3 percent of national health spending, compared with 5.6 percent in Germany and around 2 percent in France, Finland, and Japan. If the U.S. had had a level of administrative spending similar to that of France, Finland, and Japan, it would have saved an estimated $97 billion on health care costs in 2004. Even reducing spending closer to that of countries with mixed public and private insurance systems like Germany and Switzerland would have saved an estimated $32 billion to $46 billion in that year. 6

There is some drawback in the low risk indemnity plan in case of low insurance of health, though. The drawback is the health coverage seems to be of a low quality. Anyway, this plan seems beneficial for the customers with low budget. 7

The Office of Personnel Management has determined that the pension law applies to the two major federal retirement programs, the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System. Retired federal public safety officers whose pensions include a direct payment to a health insurance company or long-term care insurance company may claim a tax exclusion on their federal tax form and lower their federal income tax, the OPM said. 8

Group and individual plans may not be the best health insurance choices for you and your family. Family health insurance is a much more comprehensive alternative that covers a range of family-related health insurance needs for spouses and children. With an affordable family health insurance plan, things like pregnancy and preventative care can be a life-saver. Get your family covered today by finding affordable health insurance quotes. 9

Insurance companies are judged by honest third party intermediaries. Insurance companies compete like heck to make customers satisfied. Insurance companies monitor doctors, read Robin Hanson, and require evidence-based medicine. Insurance companies which fail at these pursuits either go bankrupt or they must abide by an ex ante contract to permit the exile of their CEOs to Greenland. Every year prices would fall in real terms, quality would improve, and coverage would be expanded. Imagine the whole health care sector working like laser eye surgery or cosmetic surgery. 10

Return to the problems of FFS. As employers and employees rush away from HMOs and back to free-choice FFS plans, they are bringing back the same problems of the FFS system that led them to flee it. In that old model, providers were not responsible for quality or the total per person cost of care. They did not have systems to improve quality. If the patients suffered complications or if their problems were not resolved by the treatments provided, that usually meant more revenue for providers. The financial and legal environments provided powerful incentives to resolve all doubts in favor of providing more services, despite the fact that more medical care may be unnecessary and even bad for the patient’s health. 11

A Health insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and an individual. The contract can be renewable annually or monthly. The type and amount of health care costs that will be covered by the health plan are specified in advance, in the member contract or Evidence of Coverage booklet. 12

The Health Care Blog analysis of Clinton's plan is here but that blog doesn't seem to have an analogous critique of Obama's plan. For comparison, they have this one for John McCain. They also pit Clinton v. Obama here. 13

Deductible: The amount that the policy-holder must pay out-of-pocket before the health plan pays its share. For example, a policy-holder might have to pay a $500 deductible per year, before any of their health care is covered by the health plan. It may take several doctor's visits or prescription refills before the policy-holder reaches the deductible and the health plan starts to pay for care. 14

Few people realize how unfavorable market conditions are for the starting and growth of any selective health care delivery system that wants to market cost-effectiveness. Private-sector employers’ purchasing policy can be characterized by three main themes: first, a preference for a single source of health insurance; second, effectively subsidizing the most costly carriers by paying most or all of the premium of whatever plan the employee chooses; and, third, self-funding. 15