Is healthcare sick?
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
By Gary Trauner
“I can’t get individual insurance because my wife had cancer, so we just pray that nothing happens.”
“My husband hates his job, but he still works there because it’s the only way we can afford health insurance for our family.”
“We are on the verge of losing our house because my child has a serious illness.”
These are the comments of Wyomingites who talked to me at their doors during my campaign for Congress.
By far, healthcare was the issue I heard about during my time traveling across our state.
Even ranchers, when I asked what their biggest concern was, didn’t
always talk about drought, wolves or foreign competition. Almost
to a person, though, they raised concerns about the cost of healthcare.
To me, people across Wyoming were all saying the same thing: our healthcare system is broken.
One column cannot do justice to this issue, however, let’s start with some numbers:
•Healthcare consumes over 16 percent of our national income, and is projected to rise to 20 percent in the next few years.
•The U.S. spends nearly twice as much as any other developed country on healthcare, without seeing better outcomes.
•Between 1999 and 2004, healthcare costs grew 2.3 times as fast as business revenues, and 4 times as fast as workers earnings.
•It is estimated that 15-25 percent of every premium dollar paid by
those with insurance is a hidden tax to pay for the uninsured.
It’s time we recognize a simple truth: we already have a “national”
healthcare system, we just don’t admit it (or manage it properly).
Those of us with coverage pay higher premiums to pay for those without,
and we all pay higher medical bills and higher costs for everyday goods
and services to subsidize those who can’t pay when they are sick.
In addition, the United States is the only country in the world that
relies primarily on employer-based plans for health care coverage. This
burden results in reduced competitiveness for American business.
Yet, it’s easy for those with good employer-based coverage
(employer-paid premiums, minimal deductibles and co-pays) to look the
other way and shrug off the simple fact that many of their neighbors
and fellow citizens are uninsured, under-insured or struggling to
afford their health insurance premiums.
I find it interesting that the health insurance programs with the
lowest costs and highest rates of customer satisfaction are the VA
health system and Medicare, not private insurance plans.
Some people want the free market to solve the healthcare crisis. Well,
the free market is based on competition, transparency and the ability
of consumers to have all the information they need to make rational
decisions.
None of that really exists today in America’s healthcare system. And in
any event, we don’t buy healthcare like we buy gas grills or TVs.
All three of Wyoming’s federal elected officials have recently had
major healthcare issues in their family that likely cost thousands and
thousands of dollars to treat. My prayers are with them and I wish them
all the best.
Yet, I can’t help but wonder if they might think differently about our
healthcare system if, instead of the comprehensive plan provided to all
members of Congress (and other federal employees), they were among the
47 million un-insured Americans, or the millions more who are one
illness or injury away from losing everything.
During the campaign, I knocked on the door of a young man who spoke
passionately for 20 minutes about how our healthcare system didn’t work
for him or his family, even though he worked full-time – and then he
told me he was dead-set against socialized medicine.
I asked what he meant by that, and frankly, he couldn’t tell me.
We have listened for years to politicians and others who tell the rest
of us why we can’t have what they have because somehow it would be a
bad thing.
Well, I don’t care about labels or cheap slogans – I only care about solutions.
We need a system that provides for basic, quality, affordable healthcare for every single American. Period.
Future columns will explore options to cure this crisis.
PERMALINK:
Is healthcare sick? | Planet JH News Article: Left Wing Local
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