Posts Tagged ‘Obama’

Barack Obama will become the next U.S. president in January. During his campaign, Obama called for change in several different political and economic fields. So what is the upcoming president looking to change with regard to health insurance, and what sort of impact can we expect?

Obama’s campaign web site refers to unregulated private health insurance and universal healthcare as “two extremes”, saying that Obama opposes both of these options. It states that he intends to assist small businesses in improving employee health coverage, force insurers to cover preventive care, stop insurance companies from charging excessive malpractice insurance premiums, and permit more imported medicine. The newer Change.gov web site reiterates these statements.

The upcoming president would also seek to change regulations regarding pre-existing conditions, so that insurance companies cannot deny health coverage to people with these conditions. Obama supports greater funding for research aimed at counteracting and preventing various diseases, including HIV/AIDS and cancer. Such investments could eventually reduce the money spent on treatment, while improving individual Americans’ health.

Obama claims that these combined measures will decrease health expenses by as much as $2,500 dollars for the “typical American family”, although it will cost the federal govt. approximately $50 to $65 billion dollars. The plan wouldn’t guarantee access to healthcare for everyone, but could lower the direct costs of medical services and drugs, while enhancing the ability of businesses to provide their employees with health insurance. It remains to be seen whether or not such change will remain possible despite the current economic downturn.

Basically, it appears that Obama is looking to change the existing health insurance system in various ways that will optimize its performance. He is not interested in instituting a system such as that of Canada or Sweden, although some of his supporters have called for this.