It Is Not Reform Without Public Option

There has been a lot written lately about the possibility of scratching off the public option from the health care proposal now working its way through congress. What, then, can be implemented to control the rampant and out of control cost escalation since the health insurance giants have demonstrated that they are powerless to control these rising costs? We now have an absence of universal coverage and an industry-wide policy of denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions (among other reasons). Both of these factors, plus the health insurance companies’ deep pockets insure that health care costs continue to rise much faster than the current inflation rate.


Health care cost increases have outpaced inflation rates since the insurance companies got involved in health care to begin with. And health care has never been universal during that same time period (not that it was universal before, because it wasn’t). Still, insurance companies have amassed huge profits. And although it is not a bad thing for any company to make a profit, this profit further contributes to our skyrocketing health care costs. Add to this all of those people without insurance who must go to emergency rooms to get medical attention and you begin to get an idea of the disaster we now know of as the American health care system.

Most of us already knew this much. But when you realize that everything in the economy is connected in some way or another you begin to see that this problem has a ripple effect that extends out beyond healthcare into other vital areas of our economy. Everyone in the U.S. knows how uncomfortable it is to have your doctor tell you that you cannot have a treatment, a medical procedure or a prescription because it isn’t covered by the insurance. We also know what it is to have the doctor tell you that the reason for this denial is always the cost. Maybe you work for a small business that cannot afford a very comprehensive policy. And lately, it has become possible that you, the employee cannot afford the policy which provides the kind of coverage you need. It doesn’t really matter what the reason is. Maybe you need more care because you are aging. Maybe a member of your family has developed an expensive health maintenance issue.

Just this last year health insurance doubled for many and many of us were faced with higher costs for less coverage. If you are a small business owner, you may not be able to afford health insurance for your employees. That places your employees in the emergency room set. This has to stop. This is such a blatant problem that the government is stepping in and is working on reform. That’s nice. In the beginning the health insurance companies publicly joined the bandwagon and said, “Yes! We need to reform our health care system.” We aren’t reading statements like that from the health insurance industry anymore. This has turned into an old fashioned political dogfight.

Some argue that if the government enters the health care arena we will wind up with long lines and bureaucratic problems much like we have when we go to the DMV to renew our license plates. While that may conjure up bad images of long waits involving taking a number and waiting forever, Who wouldn’t much prefer that to finding out they have cancer and that they cannot get it treated unless they can find a way to come up with $40,000 because they don’t have health insurance? And who wouldn’t also prefer dealing with bureaucratic nonsense to having to come up with a $2,500 up front cost because of the conditions laid out in their current health insurance policy.

There are also those who are afraid that the public option is simply a way for the government to step in and completely eliminate the insurance companies from health care all together. So what! If the insurance companies want to stay in the health care business they should find a way to help provide universal care without costing the average citizen almost half their family income. American public health figures don’t stack up well on the world scale as it is. Sadly for the insurance companies, the competitive nature of the free enterprise system demands such efficiency that some potential customers will almost certainly be left out. And yes, to the health insurance companies we are customers—not patients.

Nobody wants their health care decisions made by some bureaucrat instead of collaboration between them and their doctor or doctors. The same people, who voice this concern out of fear that the bureaucrat in question might be a government one, forget that they are already in that position, only the bureaucrat they deal with now is working for the insurance company.

This brings us back to the latest development in Washington, which is the news that the public option may be scrapped. If this actually happens can we still call it reform? Which of our health care problems can possibly be fixed if we cut out the public option? Will we get universal coverage? How about affordability? Will the newly reformed system be able to exert any kind of cost control? Will it be possible for small businesses to provide employee health care?

Fixing our ailing health care system without the public option is no where near realistic. Our current system is not producing quality national health care anyway. On the world scale, we are lagging behind in life expectancy, cancer rates and infant mortality rates.  What kind of actual reform can we possibly achieve without the public option? It is naive to place stock in any solution that resembles the status quo. If we don’t find a way to address our out of control rate of rising health care costs we will eventually be in the situation where most of us cannot afford health care at all.