Thursday, June 25, 2009
Doing nothing about the rising cost of health care in America and the increasing number of Americans who are underinsured or do not have health insurance is no longer an option. A solution must be found, or the crisis will get worse because private sector employers who now provide coverage for their employees will be unable to afford the fringe benefit.
Those in government, especially members of Congress, may not share the same sense of urgency because they receive the best that health care coverage has to offer — paid for by the taxpayers. Even with the economy in the doldrums, government employees don’t have to worry about losing their insurance.
We make that point to convey to Congress and the White House the importance of Washington developing a bipartisan solution. The issue is not a new one, but there hasn’t been the political will on Capitol Hill to deal with it head-on. Special interests have held sway for too long. Now, the only special interest Congress should worry about is the American public.
“Unless we act, premiums will climb higher, benefits will erode further, and the rolls of uninsured will swell to include millions more Americans,” President Barack Obama declared Tuesday at a White House news conference. And he offered this ominous warning: Unless government gets involved in addressing the crisis, the nation will end up spending $1 out of every $5 on health care within the decade.
A priority
The president, who has made health care reform a priority of his domestic agenda, is still pushing for the creation of a government-run plan to compete with those that have been offered by the private sector for half a century. However, he has stopped short of saying it would be a deal-breaker.
“We have not drawn lines in the sand other than that reform has to control costs and that it has to provide relief to people who don’t have health insurance or are underinsured,” Obama said.
The Democratic controlled Congress is tackling the issue and it is clear the Republican minority is determined to protect private insurers.
Nonetheless, the debate has been joined, and that is a good thing. The American people in poll after poll have consistently said the cost of health care in this country must be reduced. They aren’t tied to any one solution — at least not yet — and are looking to the White House and Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to find common ground.
There is an argument being made that rather than pursue overall health care reform, the president and Congress should simply find a way of providing insurance coverage to the 47 million Americans who are now not covered. That is not only a refusal to face reality, but is short-sighted. The problem small businesses are having, for example, is that annual premiums keep increasing, making it more difficult to provide coverage without co-payments from employees and higher deductibles. It is also an issue of competition. Companies that do not provide health care have an operating cost advantage over those that do.
That is why a public insurance plan deserves to be fully discussed.