Campaign 2000: Bradley plan would share FEHBP with nation

Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Bradley wants to open up the federal health care system to all Americans, not just those employed by Uncle Sam.

Bradley unveiled his health care platform last week in a speech at Los Angeles Valley College. A major tenet of the proposal is that every American should be able to access affordable health insurance, like the various private insurance plans available to more than 9 million federal employees through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan.

"I suggest we make insurance more accessible by allowing [uninsured adults] to enroll in one of the many private plans now available only to members of Congress and other federal employees," Bradley said.

Such a plan would make health care more portable because employees would not depend on their workplace health coverage, he said.

The proposal would also open up FEHBP to children. Just like Social Security, kids should be signed up for health insurance before they leave the hospital, Bradley said. Under his proposal parents would have the option of choosing an FEHBP plan for their newborn.

The health care plan draws upon Abraham Lincoln's vision of the role of government- to provide that which the people cannot provide for themselves, Bradley said.

"Care for health is a legitimate and a necessary task for the government, which has been designed to serve the people. By undertaking this task, we have the opportunity to strike down barriers to that pursuit of happiness which is the unalienable right of every human being," Bradley said.

Bobby L. Harnage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, praised Bradley for addressing the cost of health insurance.

"We commend his acknowledgement that the issue of access to coverage is really an issue of affordability," Harnage said in a statement.

Still, Harnage argued that FEHBP may not be the ideal model for universal health coverage, citing its "structural flaws, which make it more expensive than it should be for both the government and the federal workers and retirees who pay its costs."