New health reform plan

President Barack Obama

President Obama's health reform plans had seemed to go quiet after Republican Scott Brown won a shock victory in Massachusetts in January, delivering a serious blow to Obama's plans. But now, a new proposal by Obama has sparked new debate over the issue

The Republican win had meant the Democrats had lost their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate, but just days before the planned Democrat and Republican healthcare summit on 25 February - where lawmakers hope to find a bipartisan path to reform - the Obama administration has released a roughly $950 billion health reform proposal that tracks closely with the Senate's already-passed bill.

In addition, however, the proposal would increase coverage subsidies, require greater accountability for health insurance companies and direct the federal government to pick up most of the tab for a deep expansion of Medicaid.

On The White House website, it states, "Over the past year the House and the Senate have been working on an effort to provide health insurance reform that lowers costs, guarantees choices, and enhances quality health care for all Americans.

"Building on that year-long effort, the President has now put forth a proposal that incorporates the work the House and the Senate have done and adds additional ideas from Republican members of Congress."

The proposal aims to make healthcare more affordable, make health insurers more accountable, expand health coverage to all Americans, and make the health system sustainable, stabilizing family budgets, the Federal budget, and the economy.

The aims

• It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for healthcare in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This will help over 31 million Americans afford healthcare who do not get it today - and make coverage more affordable for many more.

• It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have.

• It brings greater accountability to healthcare by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.

• It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.

• It puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years - and about $1 trillion over the second decade - by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.

Interestingly, say the White House, the President's Proposal is aimed at bridging the gap between the House and Senate bills and includes new provisions to reduce waste, fraud and abuse.

It includes a targeted set of changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate-passed health insurance reform bill. The President's Proposal reflects policies from the House-passed bill and the President's priorities.

Key changes include:

• Eliminating the Nebraska FMAP provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid.

• Closing the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" coverage gap.

• Strengthening the Senate bill's provisions that make insurance affordable for individuals and families.

• Strengthening the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

• Increasing the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and starting it in 2018 for all plans.

• Improving insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to provide Federal assistance and oversight to States in conducting reviews of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.

Only time will tell if the changes will be approved by both Democrats and Republicans in order to overhaul the healthcare system in America.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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