The Gazette-Enterprise

Finally, another bill has come out of a Senate Committee. As usual, the Republican members, save one, voted against it.

This bill is not the final one and we are a long time away from seeing the bill that will actually be voted on; I would suspect sometime in late November or early December. The Congress does not want to interfere with long holiday breaks.

In the meantime, there will be all sorts of advertisements advocating the bill’s defeat or passage. There will be wild claims such as the death panel, reducing Medicare payments to the elderly, government bureaucrats between the patient and doctor.

In addition to the wild statements that will be made, there will also be polls. According to some polls, Americans are wildly against “government run health care.” Others will show that any government involvement in health care will lead to socialized medicine. Many of the polls will be funded by advocacy groups with a particular agenda.

We Americans need to really understand the insurance we have before we begin taking sides on the cost of health care. Most people who say they are happy with their insurance are people who have not been really ill.

Most of us do not know what tests will be paid for, if we have caps on certain things, e.g. physical rehabilitation, if there are caps, what that cap is, etc. We haven’t really analyzed our own policies.

Secondly, how many of us who have health insurance really have a say in the coverage? If our employer provides the insurance, do we have any say in what is coverage? What happens if the employer decides to discontinue health benefits? What alternative do we have if the employer does? How do we get insurance if we have some precondition through no fault of our own? There are all manner of questions we need to ask ourselves to make sound judgments about the reform bills in Congress.

While we are trying to figure out what we really have when it comes to health insurance, what are the politicians in Washington and at the State House doing? Most of them are worried about being re-elected or rejecting what the other party wants. Most are not looking out for what is best for Americans.

Listen to news broadcasts and hear what is being said. Invariably, you will hear that if Senator or Representative so and so votes a certain way, it will enhance or harm his/her re-election. Other comments will be that a member will vote this way in committee but the opposite way when the bill actually comes to the floor of the House or the Senate, thus giving the member a positive talking point, no matter to whom he or she is talking.

Opposition to a reform in health care cost is even now becoming a factor in the election of 2010. One of the Senators from the State of Texas has stated that she will not resign her seat in the Senate to run for governor until she can vote against Obama’s health plan.

Never mind the fact that one of the problems with the President is that he has not really backed any plan. The other Senator is campaigning that he voted to save a 20 percent reduction in Medicare while there is no indication that the general Medicare benefits will be cut. That Senator does not mention that he voted for the prescription plan that prohibited the government from negotiating prescription prices for Medicare patients.

There is no doubt that the cost of medical care needs to be reformed. We as citizens need to be more informed about our own health care costs and benefits. That is difficult as we all know. The politicians need to quit playing politics and do what is best for America, not their re-election.

Jack Linden is a retired history professor and a regular contributor to the Gazette Enterprise editorial page.

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