jnewman@wiltonvillager.com

NORWALK — Jumping on board with a Democrat's proposal, U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, will push for a universal health care plan in the House of Representatives.

Curious doctors and visitors at Norwalk Hospital stopped to hear the details at a news conference there Monday as Shays announced the plan with U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-Rhode Island.

The American Health Benefits Plan is modeled after health insurance options for federal employees, including members of Congress. Under the proposed legislation, which will be introduced in Congress today, all citizens and lawfully-residing immigrants are required to select a health care plan that meets government standards.

Private companies would administer the insurance and those enrolled would pay into a cost-sharing pool. Government would pay 72 percent of each premium and the enrollee would pay the rest. Subsidies would be available for those who are below three times the federal poverty level: $31,200 for an individual and $63,000 for a family of four.

Shays and Langevin hope that by combining all U.S. residents into one insurance market, the risk pool will be healthier and the price of premiums will drop.

Shays said the plan will pay for itself by encouraging more preventive care, thus avoiding emergency costs later. "We're hoping there won't be any additional costs because the way we're spending right now is so inefficient," he said.

Christopher Bruhl, president and CEO of the Business Council of Fairfield County, spoke at the conference in support of plan.

"To not support universal health care is to suggest that not all people can have access to health care," Bruhl said. "Can't be in support of that. Have to be in support of universal."

Though the legislation will be introduced in Congress today, Shays said it's unlikely that a vote will happen this year.

"Being part of this effectively means I'm making a commitment to being around Congress for a number of years, because it's not a one-year effort," Shays said.

Some of Shays' opponents questioned his motivations for backing Langevin now. The Democratic representative offered similar American Health Benefits plans in 2004 and 2005, but they never reached the House floor for a vote.

"Representative Shays has been on the wrong side of health care reform for his two decades in the House of Representatives," Jon Green, executive director of Connecticut Working Families, said in a statement sent before the news conference, "so this turnaround must be met with some skepticism."

But Shays brushed off the suggestion that he was motivated by political gain, saying he had carefully researched Langevin's proposal after speaking with him six months ago.

"This is going to be a controversial process," Shays said.

"There are going to be some people who are happy with what I've done and some people who are not happy, so politically, it's not something that I've done politically."

Shays added that incumbents are typically advised not to be controversial, but "that's not my style," he said.