There can be little doubt that we are facing a severe health care crisis. And contrary to what some critics of health care reform would have us believe, the crisis is not just about the 45 million non-elderly who do not have health insurance (4 out of 5 of whom are in working households). The high costs and poor quality of health care affect all of us, and represent a very real threat to our health and economic security.
Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have grown four times faster than wage increases over the past nine years. The availability of employer-based health insurance coverage is shrinking, down 8% since 2000. According to a study by The Commonwealth Fund, the quality of U.S. health care ranked next to last compared to the U.K., Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada—despite the fact that the U.S. spends nearly twice the amount of its economic output on health care as other developed nations. As many as 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of preventable medical errors, a per capita rate 40% worse than the U.K. and Canada, countries with government run health care systems. The situation is so bad that Medicare refuses to pay for procedures performed on the wrong patient or part of the body.
According to the Congressional Budget Office the “rising costs of health care and health insurance pose a serious threat to the future fiscal condition of the United States.” It goes on to say that without policy changes, “a substantial and growing number of nonelderly people…are likely to be without health insurance.”
The solutions to these problems will be difficult; a healthy debate about alternate approaches is warranted. However, Republican critics of health care reform aren’t showing any interest in having a substantive debate. Rather, just resorting to their usual tactics of spreading disinformation and instilling fear as they block Democratic attempts to help millions of ordinary Americans deal with the real and immediate health care problems they face. These problems are affecting millions of us. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that nearly one-quarter of respondents said they had experienced a serious problem covering health expenses.
Republicans are scaring Americans into believing that the proposed public insurance option is a wicked scheme intended to destroy America. As Karl Rove put it, “If Democrats enact a public-option health-insurance program, America is on the way to becoming a European-style welfare state.” Contrary to what Republicans would have us believe, the public option is not socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is where the government runs health care facilities and employs health care providers. But as the AARP confirms, the public option proposed by President Obama is a backstop “to give consumers the best value for their money and force greater competition among insurance plans for our business.” It “isn't about a government takeover.”
The facts haven’t stopped critics like the Conservatives for Patients’ Rights from spreading falsehoods about the public option, saying “this government-run plan could crush all your other choices…resulting in 119 million off their current insurance coverage.” In fact, the 119 million figure comes from the Lewin Group (affiliated with insurer United Healthcare) which concluded that, offered a Medicare-like public option, many people and businesses would voluntarily drop their private insurance in favor of the lower cost option. Choice, of course, is not something Republicans like to offer Americans.
The latest misinformation being spread—by Sarah Palin among others—is that proposed legislation would limit end-of-life care and encourage euthanasia, charges that the AARP labels “flat-out lies.” Once again, the truth is closer to the opposite. The provision provides Medicare coverage for optional consultations to receive advice on life-sustaining treatment and hospice care.
Since Republicans believe that the private insurance market is such a great solution for Americans’ health care needs, perhaps they can explain why it is that insurance premiums are growing so much faster than inflation and why the private market can’t make insurance accessible or affordable to 15% of Americans. Or why countries that have single payer, government sponsored programs, such as Canada and the U.K., have lower health care costs and better quality healthcare than the U.S. Or why the price of prescription drugs is substantially higher in the U.S than elsewhere.
Sadly, Republicans believe that it’s more to protect the private sector (which after all is doing such a bang up job) than ensuring the health and well-being of Americans.
