Health Care Reform

Rarely does an issue electrify our nation like the issue of health is right now. There is passion on both sides of the issue. Though, as President Obama said in his speech last Wednesday, there is bipartisan support for 80% of current reform proposals, the debate has been heated. Conservatives have argued against a government takeover of health care and excessive government spending, and liberals have fought passionately for universal health care.

Single-payer health care is the best way to cover America’s uninsured. The single payer system guarantees health care to all. In such a system, the government would provide affordable health insurance for everyone, and one could still choose to purchase supplemental insurance from private companies. However, this system does not have the support in Congress to pass. I support a realistic approach to reforming health care which includes bringing down health care costs and making sure everyone is covered. Medical care costs and health insurance costs are both running rampant, and both must be addressed. To provide coverage for everyone, a government-run, non-profit health insurance plan (known as the “public option”) must be a part of reform, and health insurance companies must be regulated.

Health care costs are out of control. America spends more money on health care than any other country, yet the U.S. health care system is ranked 37th in the world overall and 42nd in life expectancy. Our health care system is largely inefficient, and to improve the basic infrastructure we must have medical malpractice reform so that doctors do not practice defensive medicine (order more tests and perform more treatments than necessary to make sure they don’t miss something) out of fear of lawsuits. Reforming the delivery of medicine is also essential; currently doctors are rewarded not for their success in treatments but for how many treatments they order. To prevent doctors from abusing this system and to bring down rising health care costs, this fee-for-service program must be changed.

Reforming and regulating the insurance industry is also vital to reforming the health care system. Insurance companies cannot be allowed to deny coverage to a consumer because he has a preexisting medical condition, and insurers cannot be allowed to cut off a consumer’s coverage when he gets sick. Practices such as these are killing people, or leaving them in dire financial condition. About 22,000 uninsured people ages 25-64 die each year, and health care costs are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. Health insurance costs, even for the insured, are excessive. Amy from Kingston, Massachusetts is self-employed and paying an $800 monthly premium for health insurance coverage that basically covers only health catastrophes. The actions of the insurance companies have contributed to leaving close to 50 million Americans uninsured.

The public option is another essential part of reform. This plan will act as just another insurance company, but it will remove the profit motive which private insurers have. The goal of the public option is to increase competition between insurers, bringing insurance costs down and holding insurance companies accountable. The public option is essential for health care reform and cannot be imitated by other proposals. Non-profit health insurance cooperatives for example, which are joint ventures by the government and private insurance companies, have not worked in the past, and they cannot have the same effect as the public option.

Cost control, insurance reform, and the public option are the three most significant elements of President Obama’s health care reform plan, and for this reason I endorse the President’s plan, though it is not perfect. If the private sector cannot provide care, it is the government’s moral responsibility to make sure all Americans have quality, affordable health care. Universal health care is vital. And as the debate rages on, we must remember one thing: health care reform is not an economic issue, and it is not a political issue. It is a moral issue.

-Martin Page