• Home
• Personal Finance
• Economy
• New School
• Asked & Answered

• ABOUT
• FAQ
• RESOURCES
• ADVERTISE
• CONTACT

Health Care Reform is a Moral and Economic Issue.

There are two aspects that are being drowned out by all the noise surrounding the discussion health care reform.  Opponents to health care reform (particularly private insurance industry) are raising lies, misinformation and fear about the proposals in Congress.  But health care reform is needed for two very important reasons: one moral and one economic.

Moral Argument

As one of the richest industrialized countries in the world how can we allow 46 million Americans and climbing to not have health care coverage.  People are filing bankruptcy because they can’t afford to pay medical bills.  People are losing their homes to foreclosure because of medical bills.  People are postponing necessary treatments or preventative care because they can’t afford it.  How is this OK?

Economic Argument

In 2008, health care spending in the U.S. was $2.4 trillion and it is projected to jump to $3.1 trillion by 2012 - that is 17% of GDP (gross domestic product).  This is the highest percent of GDP of any industrial country including those with “socialize” medicine.  We can’t afford to continue spending that much on health care and expect to provide economic growth.

Majority of Americans obtain health insurance coverage through an employer sponsored insurance policy.  This is an extremely unstable source of health insurance coverage.  More and more employers are dropping coverage because of the increasing premiums.  And what happens if employer who provided health insurance to its workers ceases operations - well those workers are SOL. 

What are the choices?

I would prefer a single-payer system but there are serious questions whether Americans are ready for such a system.  A single-payer system would have a severe impact on private insurance companies (which isn’t a bad thing).  It would be very similar to what Canada and France have.  No system is perfect but Canada’s and France’s health care systems are not as bad as opponents to health care reform say and they are much better than what we have.

Right (8/16/09) now in Congress we have several proposals floating around with one proposal grabbing all the attention.  H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, is the main proposal in the House of Representatives.  This is the proposal that is being called “Obamacare”.  BTW, it doesn’t have ‘death panels’ that conservatives have lied about.

It creates a national insurance exchange for individuals and small employers to comparison shop among private and public insurers.  It creates a “Public Insurance Option” that will compete with private insurance companies.  It does have a mandate that requires people to have health insurance coverage and employers play or pay, that is, either sponsor and contribute to insurance for their employees or pay into a trust fund that would be used to help finance expanded coverage.  A summary of the details can be found HERE [PDF File].

H.R. 3200 is far from “socialized medicine” or even a government take over of the health care industry.  It is just providing another option which may be more affordable than private insurance companies.  It doesn’t require anyone to join the “public insurance OPTION”.  If you are currently insured and happy with your coverage - nothing will change provided that your insurance coverage meets certain national standards that will be phased in over time.  Besides, a little competition never hurt. 

In the Senate, the leading proposal is from the Senate Finance Committee that calls for state cooperatives instead a “public insurance option”.  The Senate proposal doesn’t have the mandates of H.R. 3200.  It is a very different structure than H.R. 3200.

If we want to cover 43 million+ uninsured people and lower the costs of health care spending mandates are a must.  The Senate version will not provide the market power of H.R. 3200 because the lack of mandates and the size of the pools of insured people.  H.R 3200 is a serious proposal that addresses health care reform. 

Last time I checked I haven’t heard of any proposals from Republicans.

A few words on cost.  Congressional Budget Office scored a preliminary version of H.R. 3200 and said it would cost $1 trillion OVER TEN YEARS.  I stress ten years.  This is less money than we have spent in Iraq and Afghanistan in a shorter period of time.  CBO stresses that this is preliminary and will change as negotiations continue. 

Sources:
National Coalition on Health Care
Physicians for a National Health Program