Daily News, February 11, 2009
People who suffer from chronic diseases are vulnerable to temporary maladies. Those with heart disease, asthma or diabetes sometimes find a bad accident or the flu creating an acute crisis. People sometimes discover chronic illnesses only when acute problems make them evident. And sometimes, it is impossible to deal with a medical crisis without addressing the underlying chronic problems.
What is true for our health is also true for health care.
Health care in theUnited Statessuffers from chronic maladies. The current economic crisis is showing us how bad they are. That’s why an economic recovery bill that includes initial steps toward health care reform is before the Congress now.
One chronic problem is the rising cost of health care, which increases two to three times faster than inflation. Businesses, governments and individuals face insurance premium increases of up to ten percent per year.
The recession has exacerbated this chronic problem and is creating an acute crisis. Businesses are shutting their doors because their health care costs have become unmanageable. Others are cutting back on health insurance, leaving their employees with increased premiums or, in some cases, dropping coverage all together.
A second chronic problem is that private insurance often fails us. People with supposedly good insurance find that the care recommended by their doctor is not covered. Co-pays and deductibles are so high, and lifetime limits so low, that even the insured suffer economically when they become ill.
The recession has exacerbated this chronic problem, too, and is creating another acute crisis. Insurance companies under economic pressure deny more claims, making it harder for people to get care. The burden of co-pays and deductibles and lifetime limits becomes more evident when family budgets are tight.
The third chronic problem is that more than 45 million Americans don’t have insurance at all. Most of them can’t afford it because their wages are low or because insurance companies charge exorbitant premiums for those who are older or have a pre-existing medical condition. That harms all of us as 12 percent of our insurance premiums cover the cost of health care for the uninsured.
The recession has exacerbated this chronic problem and is creating an acute crisis here too. As workers lose their jobs, they also lose their insurance. With every increase in the unemployment rate, another 44,000 Pennsylvanian’s lose health insurance. While COBRA allows laid off workers with insurance to continue coverage, the cost of these benefits are impossibly high. Private insurance is unaffordable for older workers and those with medical problems.
Not only is the economic crisis exacerbating the health care crisis, it is clear that we can’t restore prosperity in the long term if we don’t solve our chronic health problems.
We are leaving behind an economy driven by staggering debt, the false hopes generated by the housing boom, and luxury consumption on the part of the rich. We have to create a different economy, one based on a rising standard of living for everyone inAmerica.
But we can’t create such an economy when wages are stagnant because the income generated by increased productivity is eaten up by rising health care costs. Nor will we create new jobs when businesses can’t compete in a global market because of impossibly high health insurance premiums.
Four important measures that begin to address our health care problems have been, at one time or another, part of the economic stimulus bill before Congress. They would:
- Increase the Federal contribution to the cost of Medicaid. This will bring almost $1.5 billion toPennsylvania. These funds will help the state deal with a critical budget shortfall without cutting Medical Assistance.
- Cover 60% of the cost of COBRA payments for workers who have lost their jobs and thus the health insurance they received from their employer.
- Allow workers who have lost their jobs to receive health care under Medicaid, even if they are above the usual income limits.
- Provide funds for health information technology and research in the comparative effectiveness of medical treatments. These investments are critical to controlling health care costs into the future.
Even if these provision remain in the economic recovery bill, as they should, it will still be only the first step in dealing with our chronic health care problems. But it addresses the acute crises that reveal just how serious our chronic problems are. Our Representatives and Senators Specter and Casey need to support it next week.
Marc Stier is the PA State Director of Health Care for American Now www.healthcareforamericanow.org .