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[email protected] www.cbpp.org September 24, 2008 AN EXAMINATION OF THE WYDEN-BENNETT HEALTH REFORM PLAN Key Issues in a New Approach to Universal Coverage By Edwin Park Introduction and Executive Summary The U.S. health care system suffers from a number of serious problems. According to the latest Census data, 45.7 million individuals were without health insurance in 2007, an increase of 5.9 million people since 2001. Employer-based coverage, the primary source of health insurance across the nation, continues to erode; the percentage of Americans with job-based insurance declined from 63.2 percent to 59.3 percent between 2001 and 2007. Moreover, those without insurance are disproportionately people with low or moderate incomes, and the principal government subsidy for health insurance — the exclusion from taxes for employer contributions to employees’ coverage — is regressive. In addition, health care costs continue to rise relentlessly and are the primary factor responsible for the bleak long-term fiscal outlook the federal government faces. Finally, while the United States spends more on health care per resident than any other country, it falls short on a variety of quality of care measures compared to other western industrialized nations. As a result, there is growing consensus that comprehensive reform of the U.S. health care system is essential, with the goals of such a reform effort being both to achieve universal coverage and to moderate health care cost growth while improving the quality of care.