by Colin Donoghue
Daily Lobo
Today would be a good day for me to quit some unhealthy habits, like drinking and smoking. I don't have health insurance, and I'm relying on continuing to have a healthy body.
I'm far from alone in being uninsured - the number of Americans with no health coverage is projected to pass 50 million this coming year. Medical bills are the No. 1 reason for bankruptcy, so giving up a harmful lifestyle now could be a matter of economic survival.
I learned this Saturday at a forum in Albuquerque on health care system reform titled "Repairing Our Broken Health Care System." It was hosted by the League of Women Voters, and the two main speakers were Dr. Henry Simmons, president of the National Coalition on Health Care, and New Mexico State Sen. Dede Feldman, who has been a leader for health care reform in New Mexico, which has the second highest number of uninsured in the nation.
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Why do such an outrageously high number of Americans have no health insurance, and what is the government doing about it? Unfortunately, the answer to the first question is that the answer to the second is nothing.
Not just nothing, however - the government's inaction has been coupled with actions that are making the problem worse. The Republican leadership in Congress is proposing drastic cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, along with cuts in food stamps, student loans and child care, while maintaining $70 billion in tax cuts for the richest Americans and spending billions every month for the occupation of Iraq. Why are our supposed representatives cutting Medicare and Medicaid when funding should be increased? It is in corporate interests not to control health care costs, and our government, especially federal, has become practically one and the same with corporate interests.
The 50 million Americans without health insurance is only one aspect of this problem - those without adequate health coverage are even greater in number. This means they may have some health insurance, but for any serious illness or accident, major prescription drugs or long-term care, they can't afford the high out-of-pocket costs put upon them.
Some argue that everyone can go to an emergency room if they don't have health insurance and be taken care of, so it's as if we have universal health care in America. Do we want to live in a society where the only time its citizens see a doctor is in an emergency - in which the idea of preventive care is just a dream? The implications for such a system are disastrous, and possibly apocalyptic when dealing with the spread of disease which would only be detected and treated in its late stages.
Our system also avoids covering unprofitable patients with serious illnesses, treating health care as a commodity available to those who can afford it, not a right of tax-paying citizens. Most Americans only need basic care, however, and the fact that 50 million of them can't afford even that is a disgrace to our nation. More small businesses are not covering their workers - owners say the costs are too high. Even big business is drastically cutting down coverage. General Motors recently announced they are cutting health care benefits for workers due to high costs.
Polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of a government-guaranteed health care system. A universal health care system, in which citizens still choose their doctors, would cost less then our current system. So much money is squandered in health insurance and pharmaceutical company profit and administrative costs that a single-payer system, like an expanded Medicare system, would provide more health care at a lower cost.
The United States, in fact, spends more than twice as much on health care per patient than nations that have a universal health care system, such as Canada, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Americans pay enough to provide everyone with first-rate health coverage - it's now just a matter of getting what we are paying for.
House Resolution 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers Jr. and 50 co-sponsors, would provide for comprehensive health insurance coverage for all U.S. residents through a not-for-profit, publicly financed, privately controlled health care program. It's basically a "Medicare For All" system.
If your representative isn't a co-sponsor, see if he or she can give you a good reason why. I doubt he or she can.
