Democrats Propose Medicare, Medicaid Expansion

December 7, 2009

Washington - In an effort to make health insurance accessible to all Americans, some Democratic lawmakers said Monday the administration should focus on expanding the two federal health programs, Medicare and Medicaid, instead of the government-provided insurance proposed by President Barack Obama.

Under the new proposal, party moderates said people aged between 55 and 60 who have limited insurance will be allowed to purchase coverage from Medicare, a program which currently only provides medical care for retirees aged at least 65.

The proposed bill will also allow people from a household with an annual income of slightly over $66,000, which is above the poverty line, to purchase coverage from Medicaid, a federal program that generally provides medical assistance to low-income Americans.

Meanwhile, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced another bill which will allow states to negotiate with private insurance companies to provide group coverage to low-income workers. Group coverage has lower premiums than individual insurance, making it easier for people to pay their health insurance.

However, Republicans said the Democrats are raiding the funds of Medicare and Medicaid.

Just recently, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) introduced a bill that will cut the Medicare spending for at least $460 billion over a decade. However, this proposal was rejected by the Senate since the said amount will be used to provide subsidies to lower the cost of insurance among low-income workers.

For the past few days, moderate and liberal Democrats have been discussing plans to make health services accessible to more than 30 million Americans who lack health coverage, and to discourage insurance practices which are unfavorable to consumers.