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 Health Care No One Understands...

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UrRight




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Health Care No One Understands... Empty
PostSubject: Health Care No One Understands...   Health Care No One Understands... Empty11/14/2009, 5:49 am

I read with interest the following column written by one of my favorite columnists from the SouthStar newspaper.

It gave me a little insight as to what this new health care is aiming to...well, it just gives you an idea why so many people don't really quite understand why know one really knows what it's about.

Does that make sense? Read on:

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/kadner/1881913,111309kadner.article

Health care reform No one understands
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November 13, 2009

There's something important that ought to be said about the national health care reform bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Darned if I know what that is. The thing is 1,900 pages.

I was thinking I was just too dumb to figure it out when U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd), of Western Springs, telephoned.

"You shouldn't waste your time reading it," Lipinski said.

He explained that he had tried reading certain passages multiple times with the assistance of experts and still didn't understand them.

"And the fact of the matter is that this bill isn't the one that's going to become law," the congressman continued. "The Senate is going to put in its own language, and then a joint conference committee's going to rework that, and the (Obama) administration is certainly going to have input into the final language."

It seems to me that with a bill this important, with a price tag of $1 trillion or more, the American people ought to understand what's going on.

It's not only our wallets that may be affected but our health care.

Lipinski didn't argue the point. He said he voted for the bill but wasn't enthusiastic about it.

Basically, his fellow Democrats in Congress persuaded him to go along because if health care reform didn't move forward now, if this effort failed, there might not be another chance to do anything for 10 years or more.

That's what happened when the Clinton administration tried to pass a health care reform bill and failed.

"I will say that the public option contained in the plan does a good job for people who do not currently have insurance in this country," Lipinski said.

He said the measure also would prohibit insurance companies from excluding people with pre-existing conditions.

If it accomplishes those two things, it would help millions of people who cannot afford, or cannot obtain, health insurance.

Of course, all of that could change.

Still, I wondered if those of us who now have insurance paid for by our employers are going to see our premiums rise dramatically to pay for the new plan.

"Even more important, in my view," Lipinski said, "is how we're going to control skyrocketing health care costs."

If you don't control costs, more employers will drop health insurance, employee premiums will go up for those who have insurance and the costs to government will increase.

I asked the congressman if there's anything in the plan to prevent health insurance companies from denying or delaying payments on legitimate claims. By repeatedly denying claims, insurers hope consumers will pay the bills themselves. Any delay also allows the companies to invest the money they would have to pay out, thereby increasing their profits.

Lipinski said regulatory agencies need to get tougher, but who's going to pay for that?

By the way, he was co-sponsor of an amendment that would prohibit the funding of abortions through the public insurance option.

"This is simply an extension of the Hyde Amendment that has been passed every time we consider a Medicare bill," Lipinski said. "There is a misconception that poor people will be denied abortions. If they wanted to, they could pay for the equivalent of an insurance rider to the public option that would pay for abortions. What the amendment does is prohibit the public funding of abortions."

I didn't ask Lipinski how much such a rider would cost or if poor people could afford it. And I suppose you could debate how many people actually consider the possibility of an abortion before signing up for any insurance plan.

Moderate House Democrats won't back a health insurance bill that allows for publicly funded abortions, and the Senate generally is considered more conservative than the House. So government funding of abortions isn't likely to happen.

Then again, everything still can change.

Lipinski said the House bill also significantly narrows Medicare's prescription-drug "doughnut hole." Seniors now have to pay about $4,000 per year for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D. Lipinski said that amount would be much lower under the new bill.

Of course, that could change.

Lipinski has a town hall meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Oak Lawn High School, 9400 Southwest Highway, and he hopes to hear what ordinary people think about health care reform.

"Most of our calls are being generated by special interest groups, and I'm really hoping people show up to voice their own concerns," Lipinski said. "I want to hear what they're thinking."

As someone who has supported universal, single-payer health insurance for years, I would really like to back health care reform.

But there's one question that keeps bothering me about this effort.

How can anyone talk about it intelligently when they don't know what it is?
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