Doing Something Beats Doing Nothing When It Comes to Health Care

Steven Pearlstein's column "Imperfect Health Reform Still Beats the Status Quo" in the 7/22/09 issue of the Washington Post.

Our favorite line is:

"So the next time you hear someone throwing a hissy fit because health reform might raise taxes on some people, or steer people into managed care, or require small businesses to contribute $2 a day for each employee's coverage, just remember to ask yourself: And that's compared with what?"

Compared to what? e.g., compared to Canada -- every now and then you may hear someone using their most frightening voice to say, "In Canada, you have to wait to see a doctor!"

Well, we have to wait to see a doctor here. The difference isn't in the waiting time, but rather, when we wait, we pay more money than the Canadians do when they wait. There are lots more "compared to what" questions, but it will be important to make sure that while some are out there looking for utopia -- the land of perfect health care, the rest of us need to make sure that health reform actually gets started.

Children & Families Must Be First Priority for Health Care

Today's Congressional Quarterly (CQ) reports that the top worries of some rural Members of Congress are as follows:

• Greater cost containment
• More generous exemptions for small business to evade paying even a portion of the cost of insurance for their employees, and
• Changes to the government-run plan that Democrats want to create to compete with private sector insurers.

Our question. When will rural members of Congress start prioritizing children and families' need for more affordable coverage over the wants of health insurance companies? It would be better if these members -- conservatives and moderates -- would start prioritizing keeping rural hospitals open and fee for service so that rural communities that recruit doctors have a better chance keeping them.

If you've got the same worries we do about whether Congress is willing to pass a true reform of the health care industry -- a reform that prioritizes access and affordability for families, then be careful about these (good) words as you watch the debate:

1. Cost containment. A lot of folks talk about "cost containment" as a goal, but let's be clear: cost containment must apply to the cost of health care for families first.
   
2. Access for all. Every family needs their own family doctor, so they don't have to rely upon more expensive emergency room services.
   
3. Pre-existing conditions. ... Meaning big insurance companies that are already arguing against change, could actually be required to accept all customers -- no more cherry-picking as to which customer is the healthiest.
4. Public option. Another good word -- meaning that the private health insurers would get competition in the form of a government-sponsored plan that would allow you to pick your own doctor.
   
5. Single Payer. No, not a bad word but rather a good word that already defines Medicare, a system that works well for our seniors.
6. Working Poor. Careful on this one ... it really means people who work but can't afford the sometimes thousands of dollars a single health insurance policy costs, but opponents of affordable health care often use it as a means of disparaging those who can't afford health care now.
   

ISO Health Care

The health care debate has flared up in Congress, with many agreeing that reform is necessary but with not quite enough (yet!) agreeing on how to begin fixing the problem. For rural families, the challenges of accessing affordable health care are likely more complicated than for their city cousins, e.g., a partial list of added challenges includes:

• State Children's Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) ... a great program which more than 1/3 of rural kids benefit from, but many families still haven't signed up. What does it take to get the word out?
• Attracting doctors to our small communities.
• Keeping the doctors once we're recruited them. (Doctors in rural communities have higher costs and often lack the advantage of telemedicine because of still lagging broadband shortages.)
• Keeping hospitals open when they lack the advantages of big city hospitals that can afford more patients and more equipment.

To help you sort out the debate, please scroll down the left column of this blog to see Senator Sherrod Brown discuss the need for a strong public option, i.e., a government sponsored option that would serve as an incentive for private health insurers to keep their prices affordable.

Economic Pressures and Health Care

We were watching last night's debate, and we "betcha" you were, too. One key difference between McCain and Obama is on health care, so for easy clarification, we recommend re-watching YouTube's "McCain Obama Differ Dramatically on Health Care."

Once you watch, a more substantive view has been offered by Paul Krugman in his recent column "Health Care Destruction" in the 10/6/08 New York Times. The column really is must reading, but Krugman's closing line is particularly scary as he says, "I agree: the McCain plan would do for health care what deregulations has done for banking. And I'm terrified." Read more here.

Count us as terrified, too.