Side-stepping health care reform for now?

by Elizabeth Cornell, December 14th, 2006, 7:00 am

With the mid-term US elections behind us, the politically minded are wondering whether the Democrats will tackle the contentious issue of health care reform. Some legislators have decided the country is ripe for new policy, and they’re not waiting for their cohorts to argue otherwise at the national level. They’re taking the issue to the states.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported recently that several congressional leaders — from both sides of the aisle — have proposed allowing novel health care programs to be initiated and funded on the state level to see which work best. Lawmakers would then float proposals for the most effective and efficient programs up to Congress.  

A few states have already introduced innovative programs — from the notable get-everybody-insured-now program (Massachusetts) to subsidized insurance for low-wage earners and sliding-scale medical fees (Vermont and New York), with a variety of initiatives in between. Several states have also passed provisions providing health insurance for children who reside there. Will the programs work? And, even if they’re effective and affordable within a state, will the programs translate nationally?

This wouldn’t be the first time that programs have been started by states and then successfully risen to the national level, but normally such ideas flow in one direction.  Ironically, for all of the political posturing going on, the experiments at the state level could indicate that congressional leaders within both parties are more ready to collaborate on health care reform than even they recognize.