February 22, 2010

The President's Proposal for Health Care Reform

The President's Proposal includes a set of changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—the Senate-passed version of health insurance reform—that are intended to bridge the gap between the House and Senate health insurance reform bills. The Proposal has the following key objectives:

• Make health insurance more affordable by implementing a tax cut for the middle class, which is expected to reduce premium costs

• Implement a competitive health insurance market

• Require greater accountability from the health care and health insurance industries to prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care

• Prohibit pre-existing condition discrimination in health care insurance policy availability and coverage

• Reduce waste, fraud, and abuse to prevent government overspending; this intensified focus is projected to reduce the United States deficit about $100 billion by 2020, and a projected $1 trillion by 2030.