Study: Some healthcare reform bills are better than others

Congress got a little excited at the end of their last session, and introduced almost a dozen bills intended to shrink the number of uninsured patients in the U.S. And while no one bill is likely to completely eliminate the uninsured, certain ones are likely to get closer.

So the Lewin Group did a study, sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, to try to determine which bills would get the closest to insuring all uninsured Americans. The result? Two bills, one from Pete Stark (D-CA) and another from John Dingell (D-MI) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) would do the trick. Stark's bill aims to ensure coverage for all children, while the Dingell-Kennedy bill attempts to create a "Medicare for all" system.

Which is not to say that researchers consider the other bills to be completely ineffective. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a Health Americans Act and Max Baucus (D-MT) released a legislative reform package, and the study finds that both of these would make a significant dent in the number of uninsured Americans.

The estimated population in the U.S. in 2010 is 306.9 million, while the estimated uninsured if no bills are passed is 48.9 million.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

Related Article:
Americans see need for immediate healthcare reform

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