Indicating private insurers operate with “little oversight of their coverage and payment decisions,” one congressman is urging the creation of a government-run, national health insurance exchange.

John "Jay" Rockefeller

Sen. John “Jay” Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) has introduced the framework of his Consumers Health Care Act, which calls for both a public health plan option to private insurance and a non-profit organization to evaluate and rate all health insurance products.

Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, said the health care crisis in the U.S. cannot be solved “without the steady, positive influence of a public plan option.”

“Private health insurance has a long history of cutting people off or charging too much for too little,” he said in a statement.  “The Consumers Health Care Act is about offering complete coverage at an affordable rate – period.”

Rockefeller’s plan calls for the creation of the Consumers Choice Health Plan, which will directly compete with private insurance in a move he believes will provide competition and thus drive private insurers “to provide Americans with better value for their health care at a better price, in contrast to the current private insurance framework, which is focused on avoiding risk and increasing their profits.”

Many within the insurance industry say a public plan would erode private-plan membership and ultimately could lead to universal health or a single-payer system.

In comments this week about his plans for health reform, President Barack Obama, who advocates the public-plan option, said people would be able to retain private coverage if they choose and that critics who contend that a public plan is the precursor to a single-payer system “are not telling the truth.”

The senator said private insurance companies “want to have their cake and eat it too” and “are allowed to operate in a black box, with little oversight of their coverage and payment decisions.”

“Shared responsibility – that includes insurers – is the only answer and a public plan is the only real solution.”

The second component of Rockefeller’s proposed legislation is the establishment of America’s Health Insurance Trust, which he calls a “Good Housekeeping seal of a approval.” This non-profit, consumer-driven organization would evaluate and rate all health product available through the national health insurance exchange, based on factors including affordability, adequacy, consumer satisfaction and quality.