Active Participation Key to Health Care Reform

April 2009 Newsletter

In a packed church sanctuary last week, 250 constituents of Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI, 3rd) gathered in Eau Claire, WI, to listen to story after heartbreaking story – people with health insurance and without, folks with diabetes and other chronic diseases, small business owners, farmers and nurses.

One woman brought tears to my eyes as she told us how her son died while two insurance companies fought over who would pay for his cancer treatment. It cemented for me what I have known for some time – fixing health care is an issue that unites all of us, because everyone needs a doctor at some point, and every time they do they are reminded how broken beyond repair our current system is.

In addition to the individuals sharing their personal disasters with a health care system that fails people, attendees asked questions of Rep. Kind about upcoming reform. One of the committees in Congress that will be important in health care change is the House Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Kind’s position on that committee lends him significant influence in the final outcome. He is poised to be an ideal champion for rural health care concerns because 56 percent of his district is considered rural.

Rebuilding the health care system from the ground up is not just an issue that affects some people. We all have stories, either our own or someone close to us, who have been mistreated by insurance companies. If you haven’t, you’re either one of the lucky ones or you’ve not had to test your insurance to see if it will work when you need it to.

Rural America faces challenges because it has a population that is more self-employed and has less access to affordable health care options. Fewer health care providers are willing to locate in rural areas, and we lack many vital elements of care, such as emergency services and mental health care. All Americans – regardless of their location – deserve health care reform that works for everyone and doesn’t pad the pockets of insurance corporations.

These 250 people who took time out of their busy schedules to make their presence known have discovered the keys to a healthy democracy and a health care system that works for rural Americans: show up and speak out.

Contact: Steph Larsen, StephL@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1014 for more information.

Comments

Universal Health care

Tue, 04/07/2009 - 14:26 — Alan Connor (not verified)

Steph: I am a retired professor of social work and community development and planning as well as a retired community planner--primarily regional and rural--and farmer. I have studied and taught courses in social policy analysis and planning. It has become apparent to me that the least expensive method to get viable health care to all people in the U.S. is to extend Medicare to all legal residents of the nation. Presently the costs for administering Medicare are about three (3) percent of its operating costs. For retirees, premiums are a percentage, deducted from our monthly social security payment. My wife and I are relatively healthy, so our premium deductions are greater than our health care costs. But that is OK. Insurance is about sharing the risks and spreading its costs across a group. I asked Rep. John Dingle (D-MI) about this some years ago-when Clinton was president. He agreed that is economically viable, but not politically feasible. For working people, a payroll deduction, based on ability to pay--i.e. a means test--would pay and individual or household's premium. All wage earners of a household would contribute and share the risks of the population and share the costs. The self employed, including farmers would contribute, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. based on their average or anticipated annual. For farmers, though, annual, even monthly income, can vary significantly and record keeping is not always precise. Also local or regional health care advisory and planning councils will need to be established to determine such things as what types of health care services will be provided in a locality or region, where and how they will be delivered, by whom, and how they will accessed by the population. Rural, urban and suburban population have some different health care problems and needs. Farm accidents do not occur in downtown Detroit. Also different ethnic groups are more likely to have certain maladies than other ethnic groups. And some localities tend to have higher concentrations of ethnic populations than others. This needs more detailed planning, but I think it makes sense. With the entire U. S. population covered by Medicare, administration costs may increase to more than three percent. But certainly, they will be as high as the 20-30 percent that insurance companies' administration costs reach if agents' commissions are included in administrative costs as they should be. Another thing, as was the case with Social Security originally, all medicare premiums, no matter how collected, should go into a lock box trust fund. The federal government shall not be enabled to borrow from it to pay off general fund debt or for any other reason. Trust funds may be invested in U.S treasury notes,bonds and low risk and probably low return securities. (I personally would limit such investment to socially responsible investments.)

Health care

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 02:42 — Kristina & Timothy Sullivan (not verified)

INteresting story, yet I am reminded of a couple of problems. We have never had a real system, planned to cover all U.S. residents. We have had a patchwork of public and private services, for profit and not for profit. Medical services should never be for profit. We have to develop a way to train more doctors cheaper, and give them reasons to serve in rural areas. The U.S. is becoming a divided society with the majority in urban areas; maybe we need a medical service to match the needs of both sectors.