The Quest for the Public Option

All Americans deserve the right to choose from a public health care option. Something needs to done to remove the profit making from health care. The creation of a public option should provide all Americans with an alternative to the expensive and limited private health insurance options that we currently have. With private insurers as our only option for health care we now have a market which is limited, costs more than any other countries and leaves 47 million people out of the system.

Americans pay more for our health care that any nation, 15.8% of GDP which is double the average of the other industrialized countries. For this cost we also leave out 47 million people, where all the other industrialized countries provide coverage to all citizens. If we do this thing right and get health insurance costs down to at least the average GDP, the saving in the system will offset costs and the result will reduce everyone costs.

Health care is an essential service not a luxury. We all will have a time in our life's where health care must be provided to us or to someone we know. People should not be going bankrupt because they become sick. The reality is that even if you have health insurance you are not much more protected with 80% of people who filed for medical bankruptcy had insurance.

Many argue that having a government option will lead to the end of private insurance companies because they will be unable to compete, but is it the government's role to protect insurance company profits or is it their job to provide US citizens with affordable quality health care.

People are falling though the gaps left in system, people who can't find affordable health care because their workplace doesn't not offer health care, casual workers, contractors and people with pre existing conditions, the list goes on. The ripple effect is that those people without health insurance usually end up in the emergency room at the hospitals because doctors will not see them without insurance. The hospital then makes up the short fall by adding their costs to everyone's bill, increasing costs.

There is also the practice of charging the uninsured person twice as much as person with insurance for the same treatment. I recently had my first visit to the emergency room with my six year old. For this visit I was charged $242 the price negotiated by my insurance company with the hospital but if I had no insurance they would have charged me $645. How can this be fair to charge people different prices for the same service?

Without the government providing a public option nothing will change for insurance companies they will continue to squeeze out competition to increase premiums. They will be no health care reform only the same confusing healthcare nightmare that America has grown famous for. Then there are those that argument the government can't run anything, they are simply incompetent but do they not provide you with other essential services for example our law enforcement, our judicial system, our education system and our brave military that protects our country. The critics of the public option are mostly the politicians, well I say go and do your job get the system efficient provide us with the service you provide yourself. Does the government not provide public schools? Imagine if our only option was to send our children to private schools because we believed the government could not do anything effective or instead of having US post charging 42c a letter we had to pay UPS $10 to deliver a letter.

I have lived in several countries my youth in Australia where the government provides a basic medical coverage for your doctor and in case of accident or illness I could go to a public hospital and receive treatment. If you can afford private health insurance you can go to private hospitals which typically have less wait time. Canada where I lived for two years before moving to America I was guarantee health care, I could purchase supplement care for additional benefits like vision dental.

In neither of these countries, has the government been involved in your health care it is strictly between patient and doctor. All doctors are in private practice and do not work for the government. You can always chose the doctor which you wish to see, unlike in the US where I can only chose from doctors in my health insurance network. The governments in these countries provide the service of having a simply payment system which reduces costs throughout the system.

Our healthcare crisis will not be resolved unless we find a way to insure all Americans, reduce wasteful spending and lower administration costs. All other industrialized countries (except the UK) have a mix of public and private options for citizens, the private insurers still find a way to add benefits to the system.

Why can't US government provide more affordable healthcare to its citizens, maybe it's because health insurance companies which are driven by profit lobby against all reform that doesn't include adding to their profit margin. They know that the government could provide more competitive options with lower prices. Look at the plans our government provide its employees. It's time to stop federal dollars subsidizing the profits of insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, give us a better option. Let us the people decide whether we will chose government plan give us the option, if it offers lower prices and better coverage that doesn't drop when I become ill; we will all have to have a close look.

References:

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD Health Data, 2008.

World Health Organization

Himmelstein, D, E., et al, "Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study, American Journal of Medicine, May 2009