The Emergence of the Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured

The lack of affordable health insurance and the number of Americans that live without it is undeniably a problem. In 2006, insurance premiums for an employer-sponsored health plan for a family of four averaged $11,500. Those prices have resulted in, at last count by the Census Bureau, 46.6 million uninsured Americans, or 15.9 percent of the population. Many of those uninsured Americans are children. Those figures don’t look like they will be improving anytime soon. In 2007, children’s health insurance programs in 17 states face a budget shortfall of $800 to $950 million, which could affect over 500,000 low income children.

On Thursday, however, a historic coalition of national organizations announced a proposal to confront those problems by expanding health coverage to the uninsured. The coalition, known as the Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured (HCCU), is made up of 16 organizations, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Johnson & Johnson to the Catholic Health Association. The groups have met 15 times over the past two years, but have not been in the public eye until yesterday.

The HCCU unveiled its plan to help reduce the number of America’s uninsured through tax breaks and by expanding existing programs. While the first phase of the plan is focused on enrolling eligible children in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the second phase would allow states to expand Medicaid to low-income adults.

The HCCU did not offer concrete ideas for paying for their plan, but seems content to “provide a roadmap” and let Congress take action from there. There is still skepticism about how Congress will react, though the new Democratic majority seems open to change in healthcare legislation. In addition, the diversity and influence of each individual organization behind the HCCU can only benefit its proposal.

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