Dr. June O'Neill is the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and charged with costing out legislation such as the congressional health reform proposals. She figures about half of the 47 million uninsured Americans are young, single people with no children and earn over $65,000 a year and that 30 percent of them have been offered health insurance by their employers but declined coverage.
Covering the uninsured is a central focal point of the $1.2 trillion health care reforms which barely passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Saturday. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate where Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is attempting to pull together 60 votes to avoid a filibuster on the Senate version of health care reform. The Senate plan is expected to be in the ballpark of $1 trillion or more as well. Both are expected to contain a government run health insurance alternative to private health insurance plans.
One group concerned about the massive costs of the reforms is the Employment Policies Institute which is launching a $10 million campaign to educate the public about the unintended consequences of the current health care reform proposals. The campaign features Dr. June O'Neill and can be seen on Fox News, CNBC and CNN.
Stay tuned.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
