The time is now: Reform health care

[Guest guest]

The time is now: Reform health care

The Register's editorial • November 30, 2008

" There is no way to solve America's economic problems without solving

health care, " said U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate

Finance Committee. The $2.3 trillion spent annually on health care

" sucks up 16 percent of our economy and is still growing. "

Baucus is right, and the 98-page white paper on health care he

recently unveiled is a welcome development to push reform. Our view:

What's needed is a government-administered health-insurance program -

similar to Medicare, which covers seniors and disabled people -

available to all Americans.

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A single system could reduce administrative expenses associated with

facilitating thousands of different private health-insurance plans in

this country. It could increase leverage for negotiating lower prices.

It could facilitate the expansion of electronic medical records, which

would streamline paperwork and help prevent costly medical errors. It

would boost the country's economy in the long run.

Grappling with an economic crisis, Washington has focused on bailing

out industries, extending unemployment benefits and tweaking interest

rates. How can Congress - and taxpayers - also afford to tackle health

care?

The country can't afford not to. Anyone who doesn't believe that should:

Ask struggling businesses

Start with the automakers. The Big Three are asking Congress for

billions of dollars to help pay future health-care costs for retirees.

It's difficult for automakers - which have made generous health-care

promises to retirees - to compete with foreign competitors operating

in countries with taxpayer-supported health insurance for their citizens.

The cost of health care burdens all American businesses - big and small.

Employer-sponsored health insurance began as a job perk after a labor

shortage following World War II. Now it's an expensive obligation for

employers who are expected - and encouraged through tax benefits - to

offer health insurance to workers.

But such an obligation creates an unfair playing field. Companies that

shoulder the cost of providing health insurance have less money to

hire workers, develop products and expand - which is exactly what this

country needs in a troubled economy. Other companies skate by without

this contribution to the overall well-being of their employees and

society.

Ask the unemployed

In response to rising unemployment, Congress recently increased the

length of time people can collect unemployment benefits - which

generally amount to a maximum of a few hundred dollars a week. But for

many people, the loss of a job is worse than losing income. It's

losing health care.

Granted, federal law allows for people to buy the health-care benefits

offered by their employer. However, since the unemployed must pay the

entire cost of insurance, this option is frequently unaffordable. The

average employer picks up 84 percent of the premium for individual

coverage and 73 percent of the premium for family coverage. Lose your

job, and covering your family could jump from $300 a month to $1,200 a

month - at a time when your income has plummeted.

Ask average workers

For many Americans, every paycheck is a reminder of how expensive it

is to buy health insurance. November offered a special reminder,

because it's health-benefit re-enrollment time for millions of

workers. What they usually get: higher costs and decreased coverage.

Tying jobs to employment also means workers are afraid to quit their

jobs to start businesses for fear of losing health insurance - which

discourages innovation and entrepreneurship. A national health-care

system would allow Americans to secure insurance without help from an

employer.

- - -

Covering everyone in a national system will require higher taxes.

Private-sector workers already pay not only for their own health

insurance, but also for covering millions of others. Getting help from

taxpayers to pay for health care is hardly a foreign concept in

America. Anyone using Medicare or Medicaid or working in the public

sector, from teachers to lawmakers, already gets help.

Counting the private and public sectors, this country already spends

more than any country in the world on health care. We should spend it

more wisely and fairly.

Baucus' plan is a good sign that Congress - as well as President-elect

Barack Obama - is serious about reform. The goal should be to create a

system all Americans can buy into while controlling costs, making use

of electronic medical records and improving health outcomes.

One need only look to history to see that this is the time for such

reform. In 1964, the Democrats won control, and the election of Lyndon

was seen as an endorsement of a national health-insurance system.

Congress and created Medicare. In signing the bill into law,

quoted his predecessor, President Harry Truman: " Millions do

not now have protection or security against the economic effects of

sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that

opportunity and that protection. "

Seniors and the disabled got help. Forty-four years later, after

election of another presidential candidate who vowed to address health

care, it's time for the rest of America to get help, too.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081130/OPINION03/811300317/-1/ENT06