Healthcare

Congress passed a bill that makes health care possible for Americans who have never had health insurance before. That’s the good news. The bill needs to be amended, however. It’s a start, but there should be revisions to existing legislation.

Our fundamental goal should be to drive down costs while we provide care for those who can’t get health insurance. Another basic essential is that we should avoid allowing a government takeover of something as private and personal in nature as health care.

I’m concerned about the potential half-trillion dollars or so in new taxes and the $529 billion in Medicare cuts. This could drive many hospitals, nursing homes and other providers into the red within 10 years. Providers that depend on Medicare for a substantial part of their business could be forced to drop out of the program and jeopardize access to care for seniors.

Another immediate problem with the bill that I see is that other costs are also unknown, particularly the costs that businesses will have to endure. I don’t want to see businesses enduring higher-than-projected costs of insuring their work force and potentially being forced to scale back or close.

I’m also not sure Congress and the Administration have adequately faced the obvious question of whether the bill is constitutional. Will it stand against the litigation that is sure to follow? Will the legislation hold up against the question of whether the federal government is forcing consumers to purchase a product from certain government-approved companies?

On the positive side, it is hard to argue against the need for health care reform.

Quite simply, our health care system costs too much – for individuals, for employers, and for providers – and it drains much needed money out of our national economy. According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, workers are paying $1,400 more per year in premiums for family coverage than they did in 2000. Studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation say that the cost to employees for their health care is rising four times faster than worker earnings. At the same time, health insurance expenses are the fastest growing cost component for employers.

And because doctors in certain specialties cannot afford the malpractice insurance rates for their specialties, which vary depending on where you choose to practice, there are states and regions of the country at risk of losing all practitioners in critical needs area such as OB/GYN.

Another serious problem is that too many people who lack access to basic health care is reaching epidemic proportions. More than 47 million Americans – including more than 9 million children - do not have health insurance, and some experts predict that number will grow to 60 million in future years.