Some Where Buried in the Rubble of the Unemployment Benefits Bill, is Health Care Reform

The senate has recently passed an unemployment benefits bill. Great huh? Yet somewhere deep down, buried in all the rubble is a provision for health care. Snuck in through the back door health care reform is being implemented. These provisions are again, taking health care the wrong way. Here are some of those provisions:

* COBRA or Nothing. The bill would give premium relief only to those unemployed workers who opt for COBRA coverage. It is well documented that COBRA coverage is one of the most expensive options available to those who lose their jobs. Workers would be better served if they were able to decide whether to use this temporary assistance on COBRA or another more affordable option, including policies available in the individual market.
* Another Medicaid Bailout. The bill would continue to use federal taxpayer funds to bailout state Medicaid programs. While state budgets are crippled by Medicaid, the solution is not to transfer the cost on the federal taxpayers. Instead, Congress should get serious about Medicaid reform and grant states the flexibility they need to fix the program.
* More Delay on the Doctor Fix. The bill would delay automatic Medicare reimbursement cuts to doctors. Cleverly, Congressional leaders removed this costly fix from their health care overhaul and instead have kicked the can down the road one more time. This will enable them to say that the health care legislation is deficit neutral. Senate Congressional leaders should get serious about a permanent fix of the Medicare reimbursement for doctors once and for all, and find some way to offset its cost, rather than adding the additional costs to the deficit.

So this is the box car legislation option. To sneak it through in separate legislation pieces. Of course not meaning snuck into other non-related legislation. This just goes to show, that we need to be very careful what we pass. Just because the bill might get shot down, doesn't mean that health care reform is dead.