Dem Proposals Better for Healthcare Debt: Analyst

 
The quest to lower uncompensated healthcare debt would be best served if Americans were required to have health insurance, rather than offering them tax incentives to do so, a Standard & Poor healthcare facilities analyst told insideARM.com. 

“Tax incentives are a good idea, but to get to the issue of uncompensated care, I think you do need a mandate,” said Jeffrey Englander.

Polls indicate that healthcare is the No. 2 issue after the war in Iraq in the 2008 presidential campaign and several of the candidates have offered proposals on healthcare reform.  Most Democrat candidate plans, in varying degrees, call for insuring more people, while Republican candidate proposals look to tax incentives to address the issue.

“Someone young and healthy, even with a tax incentive, is less likely to buy health insurance unless it’s mandated,” Englander said. “You need to bring younger workers into the risk pool to broaden out the risk pool and defray the cost of the others (who are) generally older and sicker.” 

Englander covers healthcare industry firms including Community Health Systems, Health Management Associates, LifePoint Hospitals, Tenet Healthcare and Universal Health Services. He doesn’t own shares of the companies he covers.

Englander notes that Republican Senator John McCain’s plan, unveiled last week, emphasizes preventive care to curtail costs. But Englander said the best way to achieve positive outcomes from such efforts is to “get people involved in preventative care at the earliest age possible.”