We are still in the middle stages of health insurance reform and yet you hear talk as though “the bill” (which one?) can be easily pigeonholed. We are at the stage of moving bills to the floors of the House and Senate so that all our representatives can debate them. Those against health care reform will try to stop the debate. In watching House members give one minute speeches today on C-Span, what stood out was how all the Republican members used the same phrase over and over: “Government takeover of health care”. I think they insult our intelligence by using spin phrases and name calling. Saying something over and over doesn’t make it true, it just makes the people saying it look either simple-minded or dishonest. Don’t fall for it. Here is the truth:
1. Some countries have government run clinics. (That is “government health care”.) 2. Some countries have a single-payer system, in which the government handles all the insurance for privately run health care. 3. Other countries have a combination of private and public insurance for privately run health care. 4. Some countries have tightly regulated private insurance for privately run health care. Those of us fighting for reform will settle for the last two options. That’s the compromise position. What is being fought for is just one small piece of health care insurance to be handled by the government, like Medicare and Medicaid. A “public option” would help keep private insurance honest and cover those who now fall through the cracks.
Forty-seven million American citizens have no insurance. No one knows exactly how much that costs us in lives and preventable emergency rooms visits, but it’s a lot. A recent Harvard study estimates 45,000 die from lack of insurance each year and a report released by Health Secretary Sebelius states 1/5 of emergency room visits are made by the uninsured.
Regardless of your ideology, we need to face the fact that the system we have now isn’t working. Even if you have insurance your premiums keep going up. If you are a woman you pay more. If you get a major disease your insurance company may cancel your policy. Most bankruptcies in this country are caused by medical expenses. Our pharmaceutical companies and hospitals overcharge us. We pay 2 to 3 times more than people buying the same medicines in other countries. In 1985 I received top-notch health care in India for removal of a breast lump. All the bills for the doctor, surgeon, anesthesiologist, lab, x-rays, medicines, and overnight stay at the clinic cost me $200. It would have been more than 10 times that here.
Our whole system is about profit and the insurance companies are literally making a killing on us. What do we get for it? Sicker and more broke. We rank at or near the bottom of all industrialized nations on many measures of health. Meanwhile our representatives have a full range of options for themselves, including a clinic on premises.
I hope you will tell our representatives in Washington to vote for true health care insurance reform. We all want what they have. We are tired of being sick and broke.
Joy Leeper lives in Pittsburg.
PITTSBURG —
