At least one country already has a healthcare plan roughly similar to the one President Obama and the Democrats have proposed, with universal coverage, a mandate that everyone buy insurance and a major role for private insurance companies: Switzerland.
How much is this going to cost? This is a simple and reasonable question to ask before signing a document stating that you are responsible and will pay any amount not covered by your medical insurance when having a procedure done. Try asking it the next time you have an x-ray (or any other procedure.) A family member of ours did recently when he was experiencing back pain, and when registering, asked the woman working at the radiology company how much an x-ray of the back cost. The x-ray was ordered by his doctor.
After months of seeming mostly supportive of health care reform — and just before the Senate Finance Committee was set to vote on its bill — the leading industry trade group issued an inflammatory and utterly self-serving report alleging that the committee’s bill would drive up premium costs for Americans by thousands of additional dollars a year.
Democrats in Washington are navigating treacherous electoral terrain as they craft healthcare reform legislation, judging by new polls that show Americans pulled by conflicting desires on healthcare.
They are eager for change but hesitant about paying for it.
The American health-care system suffers from three serious problems: Health-care costs are rising much faster than our incomes. More than 15 percent of the population has neither private nor public insurance. And the high cost of health care can lead to personal bankruptcy, even for families that do have health insurance.
For people who don’t have auto insurance, the penalties can be severe. In most states, their driver’s licenses can be revoked and their cars impounded. If they cause an accident, they can have their wages garnished to pay damages. This toughness is needed because an uninsured driver can impose enormous bills on other people and on society as a whole.
Employers and health insurers could give larger discounts to employees who lose weight or lower their cholesterol under a health care overhaul proposal that’s being assailed by AARP, the American Heart Association and other groups that fear it could result in higher premiums for people who don’t achieve those fitness goals.
In the debate over healthcare reform, references to outcomes mostly have to do with patients. But the impending overhaul of the health insurance system may lead to very different outcomes in employment. That’s because health insurance coverage seems to guide the career choices of many older workers—and healthcare costs can guide the decisions of many employers.
Not all of America’s 46 million uninsured people can be considered victims of a system that excludes them financially or because of pre-existing conditions. According to an unpublished Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of the CDC’s 2008 National Health Interview Survey, 2 percent of uninsured people said they simply didn’t want health insurance. Some experts say others who could - and should - buy insurance choose not to because they perceive the costs as too high.
It may feel endless, but the health care debate in many ways is just getting started – the various bills are nearly ready, and full debate in the House and Senate lies just ahead. And yet, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, 6 out of 10 people in the United States are confused about the plans to overhaul the health system.
