Healthcare Reform Now

I’m a little tired of the stories about the righteous indignation of conservative America regarding healthcare reform and the “socialist takeover” of the country.  I can only conclude that these folks have been sleepwalking through the last year and have somehow been miraculously reanimated by Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich as zombies for the health insurance industry.  The indignation thing ought to be the territory of the rest of us, who’ve been ripped off by conservative leaders and their corporate backers for years and left to fend for ourselves when we’re ill, uncovered, or changing jobs.

 A “socialist takeover” is the farthest thing from what’s going on.  The healthcare reform now under consideration is a mild form of universal care, which would neither fix all the problems of healthcare in America nor break the health insurance industry’s hold on our dollars.  We deserve better, but at minimum we need the public option pivotal to most current reform bills.  Apparently, that’s too much government for the insurance industry and the conservatives who cater to their needs, but the public option is about the only thing that will give many Americans without health coverage a chance to increase their access to care.

 A public option is also the only thing that will prevent the 14,000 people currently losing their health insurance every day in America from losing their access to good medical care.  Those of us who are woefully undercovered by high-deductable plans would also be helped by a public option, allowing us better benefits for our limited dollars.  The public option might also help spur more competition within the private insurance market, since companies now providing coverage would have to make their products attractive to consumers able to stack their benefits up against an plan that would not be looking to constantly increase profits.

 The other benefit of a public option would be its lack of incentive to disqualify customers for specious reasons.  One of the ways private insurers increase their profits is by denying coverage dollars to individuals for the most mercenary and small violations of the insurance contract or dragging decisions out to dissuade the individual from seeking an expensive procedure, putting themselves between the patient and her doctor.  A public insurer without incentive to deny benefits would be attractive to many and might be matched by health insurers wishing to remain competitive with it.  They might need to find new ways to show their policies actually are more worthwhile when the consumer really needs them!

 Another possible development in the wake of a public option’s advent might be to encourage the founding of more non-profit healthcare clinics.  Preventive public health care, now less available than it should be, would be much more cost-effective for poor families. This care is far less than expensive than untimely emergency room visits, which the poor often use for health crises left untreated for too long.  If coverage was not an issue for many Americans strapped for cash, we would be far more likely to seek out preventive medicine.  The increase in preventive care would also make hospital emergency room waiting times somewhat less onerous and allow for better emergency care.

 While the private market may be able to innovate and provide new ways of approaching coverage to make the average person healthier and less healthcare-poor, there is little incentive for insurers to do so now.  The healthcare system is broken for too many; we need more basic guarantees.  Americans want to stop making employment decisions and career plans based on health coverage.  We need to join the rest of the developed world in decoupling healthcare from specific jobs and employment— and make our best plans portable and continuous.

 In short, we need major progress.  Let’s let our legislators know that we aren’t part of the blind rage of the televised Right-Wing Town Hall mobs.  We elected a new President in part because he promised to reform healthcare, not in spite of that promise.  We voted for change last year.  Now it’s time to demand that we get some when it counts.