Ed. Note: Jenny Jiang submitted this entry for our 2009 Healthcare Blogathon. Prizes include $150 in cash, free tickets to our Annual Gala, and by Sept. 25! Like in the Oscars, You the Reader will then get to choose the winners. More details to come.
The recent health care debate has been dominated by fear that reform will cost too much, result in the big government takeover of health care, and limit consumer choices.
I think the naysayers need to be reminded of the higher cost of inaction:
- 46 million Americans do not have health insurance. This is a life and death issue for many. A study published last week reported that 45,000 Americans die annually because they do not have insurance:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year — one every 12 minutes — in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday. "We’re losing more Americans every day because of inaction … than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.
In the end, it will cost everyone more if we do not pass the much-needed reforms.
- Health care costs have become unsustainable and unaffordable for American businesses and individuals. According to a recent study, employers are paying $13,000 for an average family premium, a 131% increase over the past decade. Health care coverage now outpaces both inflation (28% in past 10 years) and wage increases (38% in past 10 years). At this rate, family premiums will cost more than $24,000 in 10 years.
- Just because you have insurance does not mean you are fully covered. Six out of 10 bankruptcies in the United States are medically-related. Of those, nearly 8 out of 10 have private insurance. Unfortunately, most people think they’re "safe" with their insurance until they become sick. Not only can some insurance companies deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, the insurance companies can also chose to not renew your coverage after your contract expires.
"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection. Most of us have policies with so many loopholes, co-payments, and deductibles that illness can put you in the poorhouse," said [the study's] lead author David Himmelstein. "Unless you’re Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy."
The current health insurance system is costing consumers more while giving them less choices and less control over their health care. This is why we need real reform and real change.
Here are three principles that I think should be adopted in any reform package:
- Everyone should be required to purchase health insurance, either from private insurers, non-profit cooperatives or a government option.
- But if everyone is required to buy insurance, then we need to have a public option to keep the private insurers honest. (I mean, who would trust private insurers given their history in gouging consumers?) With a government option, private insurers will actually have to be competitive and treat consumers well if they want to stay in business.
- All insurers – private, public, non-profit – should be prohibited from denying or dropping coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
– Jenny Jiang
