Secret meetings to expand health cover

The Census Bureau in the U.S. has said that 45 million Americans had no health insurance in 2003, a figure which was up by more than 5 million from 2000.

Now in secret meetings which have been going on for months, a politically eclectic group is attempting to produce a proposal that will expand healthcare coverage to as many uninsured people as possible.

Ever since the collapse of President Bill Clinton's proposal for universal healthcare coverage in 1994, the healthcare debate has gone off the boil in Washington, but the problem is increasingly urgent among people who provide healthcare coverage and those who pay for it.

The group's 24 members include executives from AARP; the AFL-CIO; the American Hospital Association; the American Medical Association; America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade association for health insurers; the National Conference of State Legislatures; the National Governors Association; Pfizer; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; and the US Chamber of Commerce. The liberal Families USA and the conservative Heritage Foundation are also involved.

By meeting in secret the participants say they hope to avoid political pressure, and while no agreement has been reached, plans that have been discussed so far include tax incentives for the purchase of insurance, changing Medicaid to cover more low-income adults, the creation of purchasing pools at the state level, and increasing federal spending.