The government haggling over healthcare reform is all in the news. What is the issue? There are 46 million Americans without health care, many of them children.
In 1993, Democratic president Bill Clinton attempted to revise health care, with First Lady Hillary Clinton as the standard bearer, and reform was defeated.
I question why, with millions without healthcare, would those lawmakers with comfortable health care for themselves and their families, turn their backs on those in need?
The reasons may be answered in historical debate, but here we are again, with a new Democratic president, and a Democratic majority Congress that may carry the day.
Different from 1993 is that important players like America’s Health Insurance Plans (representing the insurance companies), the AMA (American Medical Association), doctors and pharmaceutical companies are getting on board the reform train. Throwing rocks on the track are the Republicans, more interested in presidential political assassination than the health of the population.
Almost all agree that it should be done, but opinions vary on how to do it. The principle goals of the president are to reduce costs, honor patient choice of plan and doctor, and standardize quality at a high level.
Cost
Fewer and fewer Americans are covered by healthcare insurance every day. Why does that happen in the most prosperous country in the world? The costs are too high.
While Canada and England spend roughly $2700 and $3700 per person per year, health insurance costs in the U.S. have soared to more than $6700 per person per year. And does that extra cost buy us fewer infant deaths or longer lives? Among the 220+ countries in the world, we are 44th for infant mortality and 50th for longer life expectancy, barely in the top 25%.
The driving force behind the erosion of healthcare is the rising costs. Many people take jobs specifically for medical coverage for their families, because they cannot afford it on their own. Businesses that change coverage to higher employee expense or eliminate coverage entirely, report increasingly higher employee turnover.
Competition
Healthcare reform seems pretty simple, until the hand grenade of government-sponsored health insurance, similar to Medicare, is thrown into the mix.
This makes the people who profit from healthcare today, very nervous. A government-sponsored healthcare agency would no doubt charge less than private insurance companies, and they are correct. The profiteers wail that the government-sponsored healthcare system would drive private companies out of business.
Why is that? Could it be that their costs could be lower but profit rules today? Business competition is the heart of the American business engine. Insurance companies would not go out of business, they would, like any other business, pay more attention to their business model, and attract customers through customer service as well as cost.
The government is not out to be the only game in town. It looks to provide an alternative that people can afford. We have only to look at service and product providers in our current economy to see there is always more room for serious players.
The American Medical Association said that while it believes in healthcare reform, it does not believe that creating a public health insurance option is the best way to expand health insurance coverage. The major reason? Medicare has not kept pace with doctor reimbursement rates. It is a point well taken.
The government-sponsored program will have to reimburse doctors at a current standard rate. Doctors are, after all, business people. They have facilities, employees, use electricity and supplies. It would not be fair for the government to squeeze medical providers, and I am convinced they will not.
Competition by an alternative lower-cost health insurance plan will allow more Americans to afford coverage and increase the patient base for doctors.
Choice
The issue of choice covers a wide spectrum. First, there has been talk of mandating health coverage for everyone. I don’t think that will ever happen. Next, there has been talk of mandating health coverage for every business with more than a few employees. New employees would be automatically assigned health coverage, and would have to physically opt out of coverage. I don’t think that will happen either.
We are a nation of choice-makers. Americans love shopping and choosing. America’s entire foundation is based on choice.
With regard to healthcare, people first have the choice of whether to have healthcare insurance or not. Then they have the choice of their employer insurance or somewhere else. Finally, they have the choice of where they receive their medical service.
Businesses will always make healthcare choices for the benefit of their employees as well as their affordability.
Quality
Republicans say a government-sponsored healthcare plan will provide lower quality, but they offer only rhetoric without proof.
In truth, competition fosters quality. Consider the businesses in today’s economy. Those that offer lower quality soon disappear into history, regardless of their size or price. And the quality of the healthcare provided will still be in the hands of the individual doctor. Can we believe doctors will apply their quality of care according to their patient’s health insurance company?
Opponents
House minority leader, John Boehner (R-OH) says, “Health care reform is a bipartisan priority, but the Democrats’ plan for government-run health care is not the change Americans want. Their new government-run program will make health care more expensive, raise taxes, ration care, and empower bureaucrats to make key medical decisions instead of patients and doctors. It will force at least 23 million Americans to lose their current health care plan, and force them into a massive new government-run plan that will crowd out all competition. Middle-class families and small businesses simply don’t support a government takeover of health care, and neither should Congress.”
He speaks pretty confidently about what Americans want, but offers no proof of how he knows. He talks about a lot of negatives, but again offers no proof.
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) made it pretty clear why the opponents of health care reform are fighting so hard. As he told a special interest attack group, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) left bipartisan discussions on the Senate Finance Committee, the most likely place a bipartisan healthcare compromise could be reached. He criticized the price tag as too high and opposed a number of methods being considered to pay for it. Walking out of negotiations is a great way to insure failure.
While it is true that Republicans favor small government and big business, and Democrats favor bigger government, it is indeed a shame that rival politicians are ready to sacrifice the lives of Americans to further their political agenda of presidential assassination.
We shouldn’t be surprised. They voted as a bloc against fair pay and discrimination, why wouldn’t they vote as a bloc against healthcare reform?
BiPartisan
Republicans are crafting an alternative bill that also contains several healthcare ideas that are increasingly championed by both parties:
- longer coverage for youths, allowing dependent children to stay on their parents’ policies until they are 25.
- promotion of wellness at the workplace, encouraging employers to reward employees for improved health.
- expansion of community health centers.
- mobile health care, allowing Americans to maintain their specific health insurance policies when they lose or leave jobs.
- in-home care, providing financial help and encouraging more in-home care over institutions.
- limitations on malpractice lawsuits. There is general agreement over limiting such lawsuits, but a deep divide exists over exactly how much.
These lawmakers are to be credited with starting with what they agree on, and going from there.
Where now
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the House Democratic leadership has the votes to pass a health care bill. The bill’s fate in the Senate, meanwhile, continued to be hashed out by negotiators behind closed doors (without Senator Hatch).
Obama is loading the big guns to get this passed. His web site
http://www.barackobama.com
asks Americans to stand with the president, and call Congress and tell them where you stand.
Health reform is not only a moral, but an economic imperative.
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