The White House has released a detailed and comprehensive proposal on health care reform that the White House says "incorporates the work the House and the Senate have done and adds additional ideas from Republican members of Congress." The reform proposal is now on the White House Web site, whitehouse.gov, as had been promised in White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel's invitational letter to Congressional leaders for the bipartisan meeting on health care reform this Thursday. (See, DM 11671).

The measures for reform in the President's sweeping proposal include:

Increased Investment in Health Care:

--Increasing the tax credits for families purchasing insurance premiums.

--Eliminating the Nebraska Federal Medical Assistance Percentages provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid.

--Closing the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug "Doughnut Hole."

--Proposed investment of $11 billion in community health centers.

--Promotion of prevention, wellness, and the public health including creation of a national prevention and health promotion strategy.

--Enhancing access for seniors to health care services and increasing payments to providers in rural areas.

--Extends Medicaid to more individuals and working families and the ability to apply for and enroll in Medicaid or CHIP through streamlined state Web sites.

--Community-based attendant care option for the disabled on Medicaid who would otherwise be in a hospital, nursing facility, or intermediate care facility.

Other Health Care Measures:

--A self-funded and voluntary option to finance long-term services and care in the event of a disability (based on the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act "CLASS" Act).

--Medicare payment reforms where providers are rewarded for the quality of care rather than the number additional tests or treatments.

--Extension of drug discounts to hospitals and communities that serve low-income patients, and creation of a pathway to develop generic versions of biological drugs for doctor/patient access to effective and lower cost alternatives.

--Funding scholarships and loan repayment programs to increase the number of primary care physicians, nurses, physician assistants, mental health providers, and dentists in the areas of the country where they are most needed.

Insurance Reforms:

--Creation of a health insurance exchange marketplace for individuals and families for affordable insurance.

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