Criteria for Bill Selection
As of October 2001, Health Policy Alternatives, Inc. (HPA) reviewed all of the introduced bills related to expanding access to health insurance coverage or making health insurance more available and grouped them by approach. This resulted in 6 categories of proposals:
- Tax credit approaches to expanding health insurance coverage
- Tax incentives (credits, deductions, liberalized treatment of fringe benefits relating to health) to encourage employer-sponsored health insurance coverage
- Proposals to expand the availability of health insurance coverage (pooling options, COBRA continuation expansions)
- Proposals expanding Medicaid and SCHIP
- Proposals expanding access to Medicare (e.g., buy-ins for early retirees)
- Expansion of coverage through establishment of new public programs.
HPA included bills to illustrate each approach. Where there were identical or largely overlapping bills, HPA selected the bill that had the more senior sponsor (a chair or ranking member of the relevant committee or senior leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader). In one departure from this rule, HPA included in the same bills that were almost identical. Where appropriate, HPA also included the Administration's proposals, most of which have not yet been introduced as legislation.