Reason # 4- Our Ailing Health Care System

Reason # 4- Our Ailing Health Care System

Our health care system is broken. Costs are rising too rapidly, four times faster than wages.

In 2004 the US was spending 15% of our income on health and that is far more than other advance countries.

In addition access to affordable health care is limited for people who have chronic health problems or who have survived major health crisis such as cancer. These people cannot obtain affordable coverage and sometimes they cannot get covered at all. Thus they are forced to work for large companies that provide health coverage. In a 2004 article in the Washington Post David Broder quotes studies by the Census Bureau and Families USA, “The Census Bureau found last year that almost 44 million Americans had gone without health insurance for the previous year. That number has been increasing by roughly 2 million a year. Families USA, a consumer group, says that almost 82 million people, one out of three below age 65, were uninsured at some point during 2002-03, most of them for at least nine months.”

When the uninsured get sick they go to the hospital for treatment. They are charged more than insured patients because insurance companies negotiate with hospitals for cheaper rates. The uninsured who have resources pay exorbitant amounts, which push them toward bankruptcy. The costs of the uninsured who don’t have resources are absorbed by the hospital who passes them on to all of us by increasing the fees we are charged.

The out of control costs are only part of the problem. The health industry is not investing in technology that would improve care and streamline costs.

The solution to the broken health care system is not easy and will not happen overnight. Obama’s plan is incremental. I think incremental reform is the only way to build a coalition of legislators who will work with the health care industry to systematically address our serious problems.

The Obama plan proposes to regulate insurers to prevent discrimination against patients who have survived a health crisis and those with chronic illnesses. He also proposes subsidies to help lower-income families buy insurance. Although this is additional spending I think it is justified because it will actually decrease health care cost to all consumers by reducing the uncollected fees that are passed on to everyone.

Obama favors public insurance plans that compete with the private sector. I think it is a good idea to offer consumers choice. His plan will sharply reduce the number of uninsured and that will be good for the health of all Americans and for the economy.

A comparison of McCain and Obama health plans.