Criteria for Bill Selection
In 2001, Health Policy Alternatives, Inc. (HPA) reviewed all 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.
These categories, plus the addition of a seventh to capture bills reflecting "Other Approaches to Expanding Coverage," have continued to be appropriate. HPA includes bills to illustrate each approach. Where there were identical or largely overlapping bills, HPA selects the bill that has the more senior sponsor (a chair or ranking member of the relevant committee or senior leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader). To the extent possible, HPA also includes bills sponsored by less senior members where there are bipartisan cosponsors or which include approaches to expanding coverage that are not generally incorporated in other summarized bills. Where appropriate, HPA also includes the Administration's proposals.