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Health Care Reform: We Can’t Afford the Status Quo

Jun 22, 2009 | By: Mr_Blue | Tags: health care reform

The status quo is doing nothing to change our health care system. It is broke in so many ways - the biggest one is containing costs. We are in the midst of a huge debate in Washington D.C. about the reforming our system. Many big money interest such as health insurance industry are opposed to the most important policy option: public insurance option. We cannot afford to not change our health care system. Our health care system is causing financial hardship to many Americans and a unsustainable cost increasing to our government.

From the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

In the absence of significant changes in policy, rising costs for health care will cause federal spending to grow much faster than the economy, putting the federal budget on an unsustainable path.

Our government can’t afford changes in our health care system. The same goes for individuals according to a survey by Center for Health care Improvement. According to the survey, 25% of people surveyed said that they are having a hard time paying for health care. Another 40% surveyed said that they expect to delay certain health care procedures this summer.

The health care economics for individuals is shocking:

64.4 million non-elderly Americans are in families that will spend more than 10 percent of their pre-tax income on health care in 2009. That’s nearly one in four non-elderly Americans (24.3 percent).
18.7 million non-elderly Americans are in families that will spend more than 25 percent of their pre-tax income on health care in 2009.
The cost of providing care for people without health insurance reappears as a “hidden health tax”—we all pay the price in the form of higher medical bills and higher insurance premiums.
Health insurance expenses are the fastest growing cost component for employers. Unless something changes dramatically, health insurance costs will overtake profits by the end of 2008.
Economists have found that rising health care costs correlate to drops in health insurance coverage.
A new survey shows that more than 25 percent said that housing problems resulted from medical debt, including the inability to make rent or mortgage payments and the development of bad credit ratings.
Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. The study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses.

The facts show that we can’t afford the status quo on health care. But many in the health care industry are lobbying hard to protect the status quo. Here is a good explanation of the key proposals currently in Congress: Key Challenges in the Health Care Debate (h/t to Robert Oak).

The important thing for us is to let our elected officials in Washington know that we can’t afford the status quo. Please contact your representatives and let them know. And if you support a Single Payer health care system, like I do, than please sign Senator Bernie Sanders’ health care petition.

Good luck.