Guest Column

We Need a Public Health-Care Plan

By Pam Williamson

Janet works full time and has employer-sponsored health-care insurance. When her son was diagnosed a year ago with leukemia, she figured the last thing she had to worry about was paying his costs, but she soon found out her insurance benefits were capped at $1 million. The cost of her son’s care reached that figure in less than one year. The family has now drained its savings and is filing for bankruptcy.

The American Journal of Medicine reports that illness and medical bills caused nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies in 2007, and most of those bankrupted by medical costs were middle-class families who actually had insurance.

Most of us are just one serious illness away from bankruptcy.

Cathy and Jim both work three jobs between them, but their employers do not offer health-care plans, and they cannot afford the $13,000 yearly premium. Cathy and Jim forego doctor visits altogether, but when a child gets sick, they join the other 46 to 48 million Americans with a trip to the emergency room.

Do you oppose health-care reform because you don’t want to pay for the uninsured? Too late. You already do.

According to a study released last month by Families USA, the average family paid an additional $1,017 in health-care premiums in 2008 to pay for the health care of uninsured families. Families USA said, “This is a hidden tax on all insurance premiums, whether it is paid by business for their work or by families when they purchase their own coverage.”

Jack had good health-care coverage through his employer, but he lost his job. He went looking for a new policy but keeps being denied. Why? Because he has diabetes. Insurance companies don’t want to take on people with “pre-existing conditions.”

Jack is just out of luck and now has to join the ranks of the uninsured. The insurance company doesn’t pay for his health care. We do.

Then there’s Kristine and her husband who run a machine shop their fathers started in the 1950s:

“Unfortunately my health care story is not unique, it’s typical. We’ve always provided employees with single and family coverage, but as premiums have become more expensive, we’ve been forced to modify the kind of coverage we provide. Between this year and last, costs have increased 8 percent. In order to continue to provide health insurance, we’ve had to switch to a high deductible plan. Last year, we paid $132,000 in health-care costs for a plan with a $2,500 deductible. Those costs are cutting into our profits and eating into our family income.”

The good news is that most Americans like their doctors, and those with insurance like the quality of their health care. Even those happy with what they currently have are deeply concerned, though, about the ever-increasing costs of coverage.

We’re all living with the consequences of a broken system based not on health but on private profits. America spends nearly 50% more per person on health care than any other country. Health-care premiums have doubled over the last decade, deductibles increase every year, small businesses are being forced to drop coverage or lay off workers, and those with preexisting conditions are denied coverage outright.

We cannot continue down this path. Do we really want a future where America simply foregoes health care for its people because it’s too expensive?

President Obama is working with Congress to pass reform that lowers costs, improves quality and coverage, and protects consumer health-care choices. But he is up against powerful lobbyists and special interests that are protecting their profits.

They argue we can’t afford to reform health care this year. But, as President Obama says,  “The unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act …. With each passing year, health care costs consume a larger share of our nation’s spending, and contribute to yawning deficits that we cannot control. So let me be clear: health care reform is not part of the problem when it comes to our fiscal future, it is a fundamental part of the solution.”

The only question now is: are we willing to fix what’s broken? And how will we fix it?

Health insurance companies are lining up to defeat any serious health-care reform by promising to do better in the years ahead, by saying that everyone will do better if all Americans are required to buy their policies (even if their policies aren’t any good), and by saying any reform that doesn’t add up to profits for them will simply “not work” and are “un-American.”

President Obama proposes that if you like your health insurance plan and your doctor, you can keep them. The only changes that you’ll see are lower costs and better health care. But in order to give everyone an opportunity at affordable coverage, we would also have the option of a “public plan” sponsored by the government. This plan will offer a better range of choices, make the health-care market more competitive, drive down costs, and keep insurance companies honest.

This is where the real fight is happening now in Washington. While insurance companies publicly celebrate the American spirit of “free enterprise,” they privately confess to legislators that they don’t want to compete with a private plan that may be more affordable and that could use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies.

Health-care reform without a public plan option is not reform. It is merely another giveaway to the bottom-line profits of insurance companies in return for their empty promises.

The World Health Organization ranks the United States health-care system as only 37^th in the world but says our total expenditure on health as a percentage of gross domestic product is second in the world. This means we are paying out the nose for a poor system while 36 other countries pay far less for much better.

That’s because 36 other countries believe health care is a fundamental right of the people, not a privilege just for those who can afford it.  It’s time we stood up for this right too.