President Bush's Fiscal Year 2007 Budget: Analysis of Key Health Care Provisions

Publication Date: February 2006

Publisher: Families USA

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

On February 6, 2006, President Bush released his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2007, which begins on October 1, 2006. This year, the President explicitly recognized the growing health care crisis in his budget plan, which includes a number of specific proposals purportedly aimed at helping the uninsured and reducing health care costs. This budget offers the clearest insight to date into the Bush Administration's overall view of the health care system in this country and what should be done to make health care more available and more affordable. Across the board -- in Medicaid and Medicare, as well as in the arena of private insurance -- the Administration proposes to push or prod Americans away from the existing system of sharing risk and toward a privatized system in which individuals bear more of the burden. Americans are overusing health care services, the Administration believes, and the only way to bring costs under control is to make sure health care consumers have "skin in the game." In other words, consumers should feel the sting of health care costs so they are encouraged to shop for cheaper care and avoid unnecessary services and procedures. The Administration's cure for this illness consists of a series of proposals that will shift costs away from government and business and onto individual consumers. These proposals, designed to move consumers who have private insurance away from employer-based coverage and into the individual insurance market -- as well as to encourage privatization in Medicaid and Medicare -- are all described more fully below