Aug 24, 2009 11:38 pm US/Eastern
The Need For Health Care Reform
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
America needs health care reform. That single, simple fact is agreed upon by Republicans and Democrats alike and it has been lost in the debate over how to provide that prescription for change.
CBS4's Michael Williams looks at those competing viewpoints this week and starts with a look at what is at stake.
The numbers tell us that some 47 million Americans do not have health insurance. Many in that group need it but can't afford it. Others, particularly many single young people, might be able to afford it but figure they can get along without health insurance in their twenties and early thirties.
If you're among the lucky ones, the roughly 70 percent of Americans covered by an employer plan, you might ask why any of this matters to you? The answer is that if compassion does not drive you to care costs should.
Dr. Steven Ullmann is a nationally recognized health policy expert at the University of Miami. He says, "When they (the uninsured) get sick they utilize the most expensive form of health care and that is the emergency room."
In South Florida, a regional hospital association estimates the tab for hospital care for the uninsured ran to more than one billion dollars in 2007, the latest figures available. Someone picks up that tab. Dr. Ullmann says, "Those costs get passed on to the insurance company and in turn to those who are insured and that drives up the cost of health care."
As it stands now, nearly one in five dollars generated in the U.S. economy is spent on health care. Dr. Ullmann puts that in perspective. He argues, "That is far beyond what other countries spend on health care and if we spend that much on health care there is that much less left over in our economy for everything else we value, whether it is having a home, going to school, having highways, going to a movie."
Worse yet, there are growing worries that a nation hobbled by soaring health care costs becomes less competitive in the global marketplace.
President Barack Obama argues a one-trillion dollar overhaul of health care over ten years should extend coverage to as many uninsured as possible, with subsidies for those who need help.
South Florida Hospital Association President Linda Quick says, "A lot of what they are talking about is developing insurance models that are more affordable or are partially subsidized so people can buy it on a sliding fee schedule basis."
Many Americans are skeptical about how the country can afford health care reform. Salvatore Mangiaracina sums up the mood of many taxpayers in South Florida when he says, "The government has not been able to take care of its own business. They (are) bankrupting Social Security." Another resident, Lenore Silverman told
CBS4's Michael Williams, "I think my number one concern is paying for it. How are we going to pay for it?"
President Obama argues that rolling back tax cuts for the most well to do Americans is one answer. He argues a greater emphasis on preventive medicine, and rooting out waste will help too. Suffice it to say, that debate rages on.
The biggest hot button, though, may be the suggestion that a government backed "public option" provider should be created to foster competition with private insurers in a bid to drive down costs. The White House has waffled of late on the need for a "public option", suggesting non-profit regional insurance cooperatives might achieve the same goal.
In either event, the cries about a "government takeover" or "rationing" of health care keep getting louder. Congressional Republicans argue their voices are not being heard. They say competition could be fostered by allowing people to buy insurance across state lines, and argue that medical malpractice reform has scarcely been mentioned in the debate over how to lower the costs of medicine.
CBS4's Michael Williams will look at all of those arguments over the coming days.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ullmann says the Swiss model might offer the best option for change. Doctors, hospitals, and insurance providers in Switzerland remain rooted in the private sector. "They do however," Dr. Ullmann notes, "have mandatory insurance for all. You must have insurance with penalties if you don't have insurance."
The Swiss government provides subsidies for the poor, and help for insurance companies taking on high risk patients. Whatever the merit of that model, or any of the others floating around, doing nothing at all is not an option.
Dr. Ullmann says, "With no reform we will see health care prices increase 2-3 times the rate of inflation in this country and more falling on the uninsured rolls, and our taxes going up, and it will cause more employers to quit providing medical (insurance.)"
More bluntly he argues, "We mortgage our country's future if we do not do health care reform." That outlook, one hopes, might eventually convince all sides to find a middle ground that makes sense and puts health care for Americans on far safer ground.
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