The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has created a proposal it believes will reduce the number of Americans with no health insurance. The association is comprised of 39 regional health insurance companies that combine to insure nearly 100 million Americans.
The plan would combine tax credits with new ideas for quality improvement as a way to help people purchase private health insurance. The association estimates the proposal would allow nearly 35 million uninsured Americans to obtain their own health insurance.
The tax credits would target low-income individuals, those without access to employer-sponsored health insurance and the unemployed. Ideas for health care quality improvement include the creation of a central institution to research the effectiveness of medical procedures and medications.
The cost of the proposed tax credits to U.S. taxpayers would be approximately $50 to $100 billion annually.
