Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 7, 1992 TAG: 9202070119
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOW SYSTEM MIGHT WORK
Here's how the administration thinks the health-care proposals might work.\ Who would get the most out of this?
A family of three living just below the poverty line, with an annual income around $10,000 a year. The family makes too much money to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford insurance. The administration plan would give them a voucher worth $3,750 a year for health insurance.
\ How would they get this?
The Bush plan is hazy on this point. The administration hopes the states will help, either by taking applications through unemployment offices or by contracting with the local Social Security office to handle the paper.
\ How much is this going to cost the government?
The estimate is $100 billion over five years. It would be financed by savings from elsewhere in the federal budget.
\ Do I have to use a voucher?
No. You can take the money as a credit when you file your income tax, but the size of this credit falls off sharply as your income goes up. Middle-income people may want to take a deduction instead. The deduction would be whatever's left after figuring in what your employer pays for your insurance. If you pay $2,000 a year for health insurance and your employer pays $4,000, you don't get a tax break.
\ Would I need to bring anything along to apply for a voucher?
You'd have to bring some financial records to demonstrate your family size and income. Once the local office decides that you qualify, you could receive a voucher to buy insurance. Essentially, this voucher is to give you a tax credit in advance.
\ Would any other government agencies be notified?
The IRS.
\ OK, I've got my voucher. Now what do I do with it?
Again, your state government is supposed to help. The state should already have cut a deal with at least two insurance companies to provide coverage to people under this plan. You can choose between them or go out on your own and pick a policy.
\ One insurance company looks like another to me. And who can read those policies anyway?
The president doesn't want you to face this alone. He wants to give you a book. This should give you basic price information. Under his plan this book would be written by the states. If the states don't write it, the federal government will.
\ \ I want to go to the hospital, but I don't have any insurance. What will they do?
They're supposed to take care of you. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan said that people showing up at the hospital door without insurance will be given insurance through a company that will be picked at random.
\ I'm not really that sick. Maybe I could just go to the doctor's office. But I still don't have insurance. Would this plan help me?
Yes. It's supposed to.
\ How?
They don't know. Sullivan said, "That's a detail that's yet to be worked out."