Obama to Spend Billions on Health Care

Next year, newly elected President Obama is expected to roll out major funding for health care as part of his economic stimulus package. Health care and health insurance reform measures totalling $500 billion will be at the top of the list, according to a Washington Post report. A few specific programs have been selected:

SCHIP The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is expected to be prominent in the new stimulus package. Though it is regarded as a costly program to get children the health care they need, it has been very successful. It is expected that the Obama budget will help get the program expanded, since Congress has already supported its expansion.

COBRA U.S. Representative Pete Stark from California is calling for an expansion of COBRA, which allows unemployed people to continue their previous employer’s group health insurance coverage. But because COBRA coverage is expensive, Congressman Stark proposes providing subsidies to help the unemployed pay for the plan.

MEDICAID The Federal health coverage program for low income Americans is scheduled to receive up to $40 billion in the next two years as part of the Obama stimulus plan.

One of Obama’s campaign goals was to streamline medical recordkeeping process by automating it into computers. The stimulus package is likely to include at least $10 billion as assistance to health care providers and facilities to implement the plan. When the bill comes before Congress, there is certain to be plenty of debate over its final content.

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