Settling myths of insurance coverage

Column by Justin Lamb

Increasing access to health care in this country would seem like a pretty noble goal, but one look at the cable news networks would lead you to believe otherwise. The health care reform debate has devolved into an utter circus. While there will always be disagreements over how to tackle the big issues facing our country, any civil discussion of these differences has been drowned out by a small number of raucous individuals.Why is it that an issue as important and as wide-spanning as health care can’t be discussed without blatant lies and ad-hominum attacks? Let me take a moment to set the record straight.

First, President Barack Obama’s health care reforms will not result in the creation of “death panels” that determine who lives and who dies. The question of “death panels” arises from a program in a current House iteration of the bill that will allow senior citizens to have access to consultations regarding a living will. Let us first remember that the government has been recommending that all Americans have a living will for decades, through both Democratic and Republican control of the branches of government. That’s it, living wills. It’s difficult to follow the logic from living wills to death panels, but it’s also difficult to call that logic.

Next is the notion that health care reform will result in a government takeover of the health care industry in America. It has become a pretty common talking point among those opposed to health care reform to compare these reforms to the health care systems of Great Britain or Canada.

However, even a cursory review of the proposals on the table will show that there is no provision for government run health care. Instead, health care reform would result in a “public option” to obtain health insurance. This is not a measure to kill the health insurance industry, but rather increase choice and competition in the marketplace. At the moment, the largest health insurance company in Kentucky accounts for 51 percent of the market, while the top two together account for 61 percent. A public option for health care will result in a greater number of insured Americans, as well as lower health insurance costs for everyone over the long term.

Finally, I want to address the myth that the health care system in America is not broken and therefore does not require reform. Many opponents of health care reform like to tout how the American health care system is “the greatest in the world.” Well, according to the World Health Organization the United States’ health care system is ranked as 37th in the world, putting the U.S. between Costa Rica and Slovenia. You have to wonder then, where do health reform opponents get the gall to say that nothing should be done?

Surely they haven’t seen that family premiums in Kentucky have risen by 61 percent since 2000 and 24 percent of Kentuckians spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care costs. In Kentucky, 10 percent of people have diabetes, 30 percent have high blood pressure, 27 percent of seniors don’t receive a flu vaccine and 21 percent of children in Kentucky are obese. If these numbers represent the greatest health care system in the world, then perhaps we should just stop trying. It would be a sad state of affairs if this was the best America could do, but you and I know differently.

The United States has nearly all of the means and resources to create a health care system that is first in the world and that covers all Americans. The only resource we’re lacking is the political will. If you would like to join in the fight to ensure that the American health care system is the best in the world, I encourage you to come to a College Democrats meeting. We meet each Monday (Labor day excluded) in room 211 of the Student Center.