One of the most hotly contested portions of the healthcare reform discussion is if we need a public option to have true reform. We need to look at the other aspects of the healthcare reform discussion to see if we really do need a public option or not.
The most important part of getting healthcare reform completed is to make sure that every American citizen who is either uninsured or underinsured can access affordable full coverage for themselves and their families. When they are not covered by insurance, people will tend to let their problems get so bad that they need to use the emergency room. Now, an emergency room cannot reject a person in the case of an emergency. So those who cannot afford to pay for their own healthcare will get their needed health services. The hospitals, who did not receive payment for their services, will then pass the costs onto the paying customers.
So what is needed to get the uninsured and underinsured the coverage they need? The first thing is the limitation on cost sharing and extremely high deductibles. Having insurance doesn’t do you any good if the cost to get treatments makes it unattainable.
Another thing that is needed is that we need to eliminate the pre-existing condition clauses. We have seen too many cases of these clauses being abused. We have also seen too many cases where these clauses can cause people to not have coverage because of childhood illnesses.
The problem is that you cannot just institute a ban on pre-existing condition clauses in a vacuum. If people can get insurance without regard to their current condition, they will just wait until they need the insurance and purchase it then. This is called antiselection and it would really cause the insurance companies to go bankrupt. The only way to have an effective ban on pre-existing condition clauses would be to mandate that everybody have health insurance. If a health insurance company is going to accept the risk of insuring someone and covering them during the bad times, it should get the reward of benefiting through the good times.
However, mandated care is not enough. One of the main reasons that people cannot afford individual plans is because the cost of the premium is too high. So there needs to be a subsidized sliding scale payment system for those people who do not make enough to pay for full premiums so they can satisfy the requirement of the mandated coverage without being punished for the level of wages they receive.
There would need to be a place where these people could then go to purchase individual health insurance plans. This is where a national health exchange comes in. This exchange will allow companies to sell their insurance products across state lines in a convenient way for both the insured and the insurer.
So we have a system where subsidized money will be paid to cover the portion of the premium that the insureds cannot afford to pay on their own. So what keeps the cost down? Some people would argue that the competition provided for on the exchange would keep prices down. This might be true but then again it might not. And when it comes to spending our tax dollars to help people get insurance, I want a guarantee that prices will be kept down to an affordable level so that we can reign in the costs of health insurance (that have risen more than inflation in recent years). The only way to achieve those guaranteed price controls would be to institute a public option. Otherwise, the sliding scale subsidies we would be paying for those uninsured to get private insurance could go through the roof. Will the public option costs us money? Of course! However, as we have established, the current system of using the ER costs us money as well. And it is fiscally responsible to pay for someone’s cheaper preventive care than it is to pay for someone’s more expensive emergency care.
And to all of those conservatives who still have doubts I issue you a challenge. Come up with another plan that accomplishes the same goals (no pre-existing condition clauses, full coverage, limited cost sharing, no antiselection, and cost controls) that excludes the public option and I will listen. But since no such plan has come up from the conservatives so far, I will not be holding my breath.
Bayoubuzz Note: Dan Zimmerman, as others, is a contributing columnist for Bayoubuzz. Bayoubuzz encourages writers from the broad political spectrum to offer their opinions on Bayoubuzz.com.
CT, Public option is good, and one public option would be to listen to propositions from the general public.... Instead just those that the media including rags like this buzzy buzz buzz bored promotes either directly, or indirectly,....... Health care, I could crank something out in a month or so that would cause a great deal of contentment for folks be they tax paying Republicans or Tax paying Democrats. And guess what, the 'financially' challenged sector of our population would be protected too... Ahhh, but I have a hell of a time just trying to save the taxpayer multiple billions of dollars over the years so who gives a rat's bunghole about health care anyways??? Written by STRONGCONCRETE
on 10/23/2009
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The monkey in question,,,,,is on the "government's back", and since those in charge are Democrats, it will be expensive and first, but in the long run, it will save money and lives.
We Democrats, will succeed, but only with a public option. If not, universal health care and lower costs will not take place.
We will have the monkey off our backs, when Obama finishes his second term. Written by Cajun Tsunami
on 10/22/2009
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Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20 for a monkey. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each, and the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35, and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each. The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man nor his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! And that folks is how health care reform works. Written by
on 10/22/2009
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kpf on 10/22/2009... Put the bong down! You iz thunkin' 2 much...
Written by
on 10/22/2009
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The GOP has no plan because it wants to preserve the status quo for the health insurance industry. Tort reform is a smokescreen. Medical Malpractice awards have been capped for more than two decades in Louisiana without any increase to reflect the cost of living. Trial lawyers only take the strongest cases because they are difficult and expensive to prove. Written by David Quidd
on 10/22/2009
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Actually, preventative care CAN cost more than emergency room care. That is, preventative care for "the many" who WILL NOT need emergency room care can cost more than what an be saved by treating "the few" who will not need to go to the emergency room due to preventative care. "Math" - a concept never to be understood by liberals (see: California). As far as other options besides "the public option" - there are plenty; allow people to purchase insurance from any state, tort reform, and other alternatives as well. The Democrats won't allow tort reform due to the campaign contributions from trial lawyers, and they are adding "details" in their proposed legislation that favors their other constituencies, the unions and those on the public dole. As long as they desire to protect and enhance their constituencies on the back of working taxpayers, they deserve all the fractious infighting that is now going on among their ranks in congress. Quite an amusing show, from my perspective. Written by kpf
on 10/22/2009
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