Lexington Herald Leader Editorial: "Time Ripe For Health Care Overhaul". I AGREE.
Time ripe for health care overhaul
A year ago, Michael Phelps was burning up the water in Beijing. No one outside Alaska had heard of Sarah Palin. And the stage was set for Congress to do something about health care in 2009.
Polls showed that paying for an illness or injury was near the top of voters' worries. Having insurance was no guarantee against being bankrupted by medical bills because only the insurance company knows what's in the fine print.
More than 45 million Americans had no health insurance, and their numbers were and are rising.
Businesses large and small were groaning under health care costs that outpace inflation. Then as now, the uncontrolled cost of health care put the U.S. at its biggest competitive disadvantage. The presidential campaigns were churning out ideas for an overhaul.
So undeniable was the need for reform that even the insurance industry was on board. Insurance companies were willing to make important concessions to consumers and give up some of their profits for a shot at the new market that would be created by subsidizing universal coverage.
The next month, the world's credit markets collapsed.
This hastened an economic crisis that makes it all the more urgent to get a handle on health care costs. The suddenness of the downturn also shows why Americans need to know they can afford coverage even if they lose their jobs or health benefits or just want to strike out and start a business.
A year ago, reform looked inevitable. Now it's at risk of being derailed. The prospect of change became too scary, too costly, too much government. Consensus has been shoved aside by the same ol' partisan dysfunction.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warns against moving too fast lest we make things worse.
McConnell's fellow Republican, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, is more candid. "If we're able to stop (President Barack) Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," DeMint told right-wing organizers last month.
The plan is to barrage members of Congress during the August recess with criticism and opposition to any progress on health care.
If successful, this strategy would leave a huge, multi-headed problem unresolved, a problem that will then accelerate.
The coalition of "no" is willing to waste a huge amount of progress that's already been made. The insurance industry still supports important reforms. The American Medical Association has endorsed the House Democrats' plan, including a public option. Congressional negotiators have made good strides.
Finally, if reform stalls and crashes, Congress will again look like a bunch of timid incompetents.
At bottom, the anti-reform refrain is that government can't do anything right, that Congress can't possibly understand anything that takes more than 15 minutes to read and that our country's only defense against modern complexities is to hunker down and resist.
The country that 40 years ago put a man on the moon can't figure out how to make the most of its vast medical resources.
Many of the trends that drive up costs and deprive people of care are not much more than a generation old. Fixing them is complicated but not rocket science.
No, Congress won't produce a perfect solution or even one that won't need tweaking. But with all the data and expertise at its command, if Congress can't improve the way we pay for and deliver health care, this country really is in a helpless state.
What Congress needs to hear during recess: Get back to work and finish this job.
A year ago, Michael Phelps was burning up the water in Beijing. No one outside Alaska had heard of Sarah Palin. And the stage was set for Congress to do something about health care in 2009.
Polls showed that paying for an illness or injury was near the top of voters' worries. Having insurance was no guarantee against being bankrupted by medical bills because only the insurance company knows what's in the fine print.
More than 45 million Americans had no health insurance, and their numbers were and are rising.
Businesses large and small were groaning under health care costs that outpace inflation. Then as now, the uncontrolled cost of health care put the U.S. at its biggest competitive disadvantage. The presidential campaigns were churning out ideas for an overhaul.
So undeniable was the need for reform that even the insurance industry was on board. Insurance companies were willing to make important concessions to consumers and give up some of their profits for a shot at the new market that would be created by subsidizing universal coverage.
The next month, the world's credit markets collapsed.
This hastened an economic crisis that makes it all the more urgent to get a handle on health care costs. The suddenness of the downturn also shows why Americans need to know they can afford coverage even if they lose their jobs or health benefits or just want to strike out and start a business.
A year ago, reform looked inevitable. Now it's at risk of being derailed. The prospect of change became too scary, too costly, too much government. Consensus has been shoved aside by the same ol' partisan dysfunction.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warns against moving too fast lest we make things worse.
McConnell's fellow Republican, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, is more candid. "If we're able to stop (President Barack) Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," DeMint told right-wing organizers last month.
The plan is to barrage members of Congress during the August recess with criticism and opposition to any progress on health care.
If successful, this strategy would leave a huge, multi-headed problem unresolved, a problem that will then accelerate.
The coalition of "no" is willing to waste a huge amount of progress that's already been made. The insurance industry still supports important reforms. The American Medical Association has endorsed the House Democrats' plan, including a public option. Congressional negotiators have made good strides.
Finally, if reform stalls and crashes, Congress will again look like a bunch of timid incompetents.
At bottom, the anti-reform refrain is that government can't do anything right, that Congress can't possibly understand anything that takes more than 15 minutes to read and that our country's only defense against modern complexities is to hunker down and resist.
The country that 40 years ago put a man on the moon can't figure out how to make the most of its vast medical resources.
Many of the trends that drive up costs and deprive people of care are not much more than a generation old. Fixing them is complicated but not rocket science.
No, Congress won't produce a perfect solution or even one that won't need tweaking. But with all the data and expertise at its command, if Congress can't improve the way we pay for and deliver health care, this country really is in a helpless state.
What Congress needs to hear during recess: Get back to work and finish this job.
Labels: General information
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 11:18 PM
1 Comments:
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