How we pay for health care is a big deal for America. We pay far more than any other developed country and get results that are inferior to those of many only semi-developed countries, like Cuba and Costa Rica for instance. Every European country pays less and gets more for their money than we do. And the situation is getting worse! Last year was the most profitable for the insurance industry with their profits up very substantially from the previous year. And this year their rates are up as much as 30% for most of us that are lucky enough to be insured. Health Care Insurance now eats up 17% of what we spend and next year will rise to above 20%. Something has got to be done or we soon won’t have any money to spend on food, rent or mortgages, cars, clothes or utilities, etc. Business is already suffering and the rising cost of health care is a big part of the problem.
President Obama wants the Congress to push a health care reform bill through even if it isn’t all that he wants or even very good. It is a badly flawed bill and has a lot of opposition from nearly all quarters. No Republican is supporting it and the majority of the population doesn’t like it either. It does too much for the insurance companies and almost nothing, as far as I can see, to control cost. President Obama is still trying to get some Republican cooperation. But that is highly unlikely to happen.
Now there is a call to trash this bill and to start over. I think we should. I think we should get the Democrats and the Republicans to get together in conference and put both parties’ ideas on the table for consideration. And it should be done in the clear light of day. The people of this country who will be most affected by it should be able to see it and to comment on it. Maybe if they did pressure from constituents would get the Congress and Senate to do something that would work to get real reform. And if they would put single payer on the table this time maybe it would have a chance of passing.
A single payer system is what most other countries use that do better than we do at a lower cost. Insurance industry propaganda makes it sound like it isn’t nearly as good as the private health insurance system we have. But the people in those countries are, for the most part, very satisfied with it and think we are the ones with the scary system. I agree with them. Our system sucks and it is scary!
Having a single payer health care system like Medicare for all doesn’t mean there would be no private health care insurance. I get money taken out of my Social Security and given to an insurance company instead of Medicare. And I get more for my money than if I used Medicare. I think it would be a good thing to adopt a similar system for everyone. We already take money out of pay checks to pay for Medicare. Give everyone Medicare and let them opt out and buy into a private plan if an insurance company offers a plan that would save money or give better coverage for the same money. We might have to deduct more than we do now to pay for Medicare but if it is in lieu of the insurance premiums Americans pay now we would still save. It would end most of the problems we have now with the high and upward spiraling cost of health care. It would be real health care reform.
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One of the largest but unspoken issues of the "reform" debate is the issue of state-based single-payor health coverage. The plans considered by the House and Senate would have blocked states from implementing single payor even if they wanted to - and I think that was the hidden purpose of the bills.
ReplyDeleteSingle payor has been passed twice by California's legislature, only to be vetoed by the Governator. But he won't be there forever. Several other states have single-payor bills under consideration, including New Mexico, which has the excellent Health Security Act for New Mexicans - www.nmhealthsecurity.org
The national Obama-backed plan began as a compromise and soon became an embarrassment. We don't need an embarrassment on the national level, let's work for single payor at the state level. Once one state gets a good single payor plan in place, others will follow. But if we get a bad plan in place at the national level, we will be stuck with it.