health care insurance

Congressional leaders are planning to hold “secret” meetings instead of the traditional public conference committee hearings to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the health care insurance reform bills.

While the GOP has reacted with expected outrage, the proposed “new system” of “private meetings” is generating some concern from the traditional media, as ABC News reports:

One of the proposed changes in the health care insurance reform bills is the “employer mandate”, a requirement that employers of a certain size either provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fine.

If the employer provides insurance, it can be provided before taxes in most cases, providing a tax benefit (or, subsidy) to help the employee afford the share of premium.

If the employer doesn’t provide the insurance and pays the fine, the employees can then use the “insurance exchange” to buy their own coverage.

CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of Health and Human Services, has provided some analysis of the new senate plan forwarded by a group of Democratic senators and majority leader Reid.

When the world’s largest retailer backs something like this, it’s hard to ignore.

Especially since they’ve had such a spotty record when it came to covering their 2 million employees in the past.