Health Care Happenings: Rep. Schrier Sponsors Medicaid Public Option Bill
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) announced that she has signed on as a sponsor of a new bill to expand health coverage, called the State Public Option Act. The goal of a Medicaid public option would be to provide Americans with the choice of a high-quality, lower-cost health insurance plan.
“American families are hurting right now as they are faced with rising costs of health care and prescription drugs,” said Rep. Schrier. “By creating a public option with an already-established program like Medicaid, this could be implemented quickly, giving relief to millions of people.”
While the Affordable Care Act made tremendous strides in providing health insurance for millions of Americans, nearly 30 million people are still uninsured. About 45% of adults without health coverage cite high costs as the main reason, which have continued to increase because of uncertainty and market instability. Medicaid has a demonstrated effectiveness and consistently gets high ratings from patients. And because it is a federal and state partnership, a public option of Medicaid would still allow for flexibility at the state level. This national bill would support Washington’s statewide efforts led by Governor Inslee.
Rep. Schrier continued, “Douglas and Chelan counties in my district only have one option on the Health Benefit Exchange. Adding a public option into these markets would immediately create competition and provide for a quality, less expensive health care option that would help expand coverage to many of the families who have been priced out of health insurance.”
The State Public Option Act would do several things: create a state option to expand Medicaid eligibility to all state residents not already enrolled in health insurance;improve access to quality, specialized care for Medicaid patients by incentivizing doctors; and provide state incentives to take up the Medicaid expansion.
Health Care Happenings is a regular update of health care-related news of the only female doctor in Congress.