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March 20, 2010

Pass the bill

The yearlong, admittedly messy, health care reform process nears its end on Sunday and passage of the president’s proposal now seems more likely.

The Republicans continue their unified opposition to any significant reform of our health care non-system. What is their record on this issue? They successfully defeated the efforts by the Clinton administration in 1993 to pass reform. During the 8 years when they controlled the executive branch, what did they accomplish?

Did they reduce the growing number of uninsured Americans or propose any programs to effectively reduce health care costs? Of course not. Then as now they were not concerned about those who lacked access to reasonable heath care. The Senate majority leader and his colleagues continue to claim that ours is the best health care system in the world. That is obviously true for the wealthy or those who have health insurance policies that haven’t been cancelled when they get sick. But, by any comprehensive assessment, we do significantly worse than other developed nations in providing health care to our residents while spending nearly twice as much money.

The Democrats will make a historic decision in the next few days. If health care reform passes, we will extend insurance to 32 million more Americans and begin the difficult process of trying to rationalize our non-system. The Congressional Budget Office affirms that reform can reduce the deficit slightly in the first decade, followed by significant cost savings exceeding $1 trillion in the second. We can begin the exceedingly difficult process of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery. We will explore through multiple pilot programs alternative solutions to the myriad problems that plague our non-system. Success is not guaranteed, but continued failure is certain if we don’t begin the effort.

The events of recent months foreshadow the future if the Democrats do not honor their 2008 campaign commitment. Insurance companies raised rates for the insured while acknowledging losing policyholders because of the higher premiums and the recession. They will continue the current policies of excluding people because of preexisting conditions, placing annual or lifetime limits on coverage, canceling policies of the sick when possible, and denying access to preferred physicians. It is estimated that the number of uninsured will grow to more than 55 million in the next ten years in the absence of meaningful reform.

Passing the president’s proposal is just a beginning and does not preclude future action on issues that remain unresolved. Meaningful tort reform, a public option and other policy changes that continue to improve our health care delivery and reduce costs can still be adopted separately.

Pass the bill.

Posted at 08:43 AM in Current Affairs, Health Care, Politics |

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