The hot topic in Washington over the past few weeks has been healthcare reform. Of course, this is an intensely divisive issue among Democrats and Republicans. What Obama and many (but not all) Congressional Democrats are arguing for is a public option (this would not be free, but would be more affordable coverage and no one would be turned away for preexisting conditions). The Dems aren't even trying to push for a "single payer" health care system (ie. the government runs the entire system). In other words, if you are lucky enough to get private healthcare coverage from your job and you are happy with it, then keep it. Nothing changes for you. But there are nearly 50 million people that do not have coverage. According to a Harvard study, someone goes bankrupt every 30 seconds because of medical costs. Uninsured people with a medical emergency simply go to the ER, which of course, is the most expensive way to get care and costs taxpayers billions.
Howard Dean explains why we need a public option:
There is no serious consideration in Congress of a single-payer governmental program that would enroll virtually everyone. Nor is there any talk of extending the veterans health care system, a stellar example of “socialized medicine,” to the general public.
The debate is really over whether to open the door a crack for a new public plan to compete with the private plans. Most Democrats see this as an important element in any health care reform, and so do we.
A public plan would have lower administrative expenses than private plans, no need to generate big profits, and stronger bargaining power to obtain discounts from providers. That should enable it to charge lower premiums than many private plans.
It would also provide an alternative for individuals who either can’t get adequate insurance from private insurers or don’t trust the private insurance industry to treat them fairly. And it could serve as a yardstick for comparing the performance of private plans and for testing innovative coverage schemes.
The Republicans have been working hard to paint this is as "socialized health care"..eeekkk! Scary! However, they are simply trying to scare people (as usual). It's not working, though. A number of polls conducted in recent weeks have shown overwhelmingly strong support among Americans for a public option (here and here too). Could this be why? What's more, a majority of Americans are even willing to pay more taxes to make sure that all are insured.
The hilarious thing about the poll results is at least half of self-identified Republicans support a public option. So why would their leaders (and some conservative Dems) fight against it? If you guessed campaign contributions from the insurance companies, you'd be right.
If you support a public option and want to do something about making it happen, click here.
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