Blue Cross Unveils Plan to Cover Uninsured

On Wednesday, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has announced a plan for covering the uninsured and comprehensive reform. The five-point plan is called "The Pathway to Covering America".

BCBSAs five-point plan for comprehensive reform includes the following:

1. Encourage Research on What Works. Today, an estimated 30 percent of healthcare spending goes toward care that is ineffective, redundant or inappropriate. America needs an independent institute to support research comparing the relative effectiveness of new and existing medical procedures, drugs, devices, and biologics.

2. Change Incentives to Promote Better Care. The incentives in our system must be changed to advance the best possible care instead of encouraging more services. Providers should be rewarded for delivering high-quality, coordinated care, especially for the increasing number of Americans with chronic illnesses.

3. Empower Consumers and Providers. Consumers and providers must have access to the information and tools they need to make informed decisions. This starts with information systems to manage personal health records. In addition, consumers need to know how much they are paying for their healthcare and what they are getting in return.

4. Promote Health & Wellness. The costs of treating chronic conditions are estimated to account for 75 percent of healthcare spending. As a nation, we must promote healthy lifestyles to help prevent chronic illness and work aggressively to help patients with chronic illnesses manage their own health.

5. Foster Public-Private Coverage Solutions. Coverage plans need to be tailored to capture the diversity of the uninsured population so that no one gets squeezed out by cost, misses out on available government assistance or opts out because they do not think they need health coverage.

To foster public-private coverage solutions, they propose states should provide brokers with a finder's fee for enrolling individuals in Medicaid and SCHIP & feel states should be allowed to automatically enroll children into public programs who qualify for other programs (such as free or reduced school lunches, ect).

In each step, they have outlined what the Blues are doing, and what the Government should do. The BCBSA plans to engage in a multi-pronged campaign both nationally and in all 50 states to help advance this proposal. For more details/information about BCBSA's plan visit www.bcbs.com/pathwayreport

Blue Cross Blue Shield has had 75 years as leaders in the health community, and the 39 regional companies insures millions of Americans.