America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing companies that insure more than 200 million people in the United States, offered its own universal-coverage proposal that calls for Congress to slow the growth of health-care costs by 30 percent in five years, envisioning a total savings of more than $500 billion.

Currently, in the US, 46 million people are uninsured. A report released by the US Census Bureau revealed that roughly a quarter of people living in Florida, Texas and New Mexico lacked health insurance. Texas had the highest percentage of uninsured residents under the age of 65, with 26.3 percent of the population lacking health coverage followed by New Mexico with 24.2 percent and Florida with 24.0 percent.

Health care reform was one of the central issues of both Barrack Obama and John McCain during their presidential campaign. President-elect Barrack Obama promised to provide access to affordable and effective health care and prescription drugs to every American, and to invest in vital medical research.

Besides asking the Congress to cut health care costs by 30 percent in the next five years, America’s Health Insurance Plans also backs expansions of Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which Democrats plan to tackle soon after the new Congress convenes in January.

The group also calls for improving the quality of care by devoting more expertise and money to preventive and wellness care; investing in more research to determine the best treatment protocols and providing this information to doctors; and standardizing technology that is used to record and transmit patient information.