Incremental health insurance reform proposals to improve access

This three-part series on health legislation describes the policy shift toward regulating the private healthcare system to ensure adequate consumer protection and access to health insurance. Still burning from the failed 1993-1994 healthcare reform effort, Congress and the White House are looking only for incremental policies necessary to reduce the federal deficit and protect the public while the private healthcare system continues to undergo major transformation. In previous articles, the author discussed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal program revisions and consumer protection legislation aimed at unacceptable managed cure practices. This last article discusses incremental health insurance proposals aimed toward segments of the uninsured.