Why There Has to be Health Care Reform

via whitehouse.gov

There has been some form of discussion on universal health care in the U.S. since 1915. FDR wanted to implement it as part of Social Security during the New Deal, but knew Americans weren’t ready for it. His successor, Harry Truman tried to implement it as part of his Fair Deal, but it was shot down by Congress. Lyndon Johnson was finally able to secure some form of health care in 1965 by creating Medicare. (Trivia: Harry Truman was the first American enrolled in Medicare. LBJ credited Truman with “planting the seeds of compassion and duty which have today flowered into care for the sick and serenity for the fearful.”) Bill Clinton attempted to overhaul Medicare and it expand it to more people in 1993, but that plan was shot down by Congress. So far, the presidents with the greatest contribution to health care reform have been Democrats. Not to be outdone, even George W. Bush had his part, signing the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 2003.

Despite these efforts, the future still looks bleak. There were 47 million uninsured Americans in 2006, a number that no doubt has increased considering the rise in unemployment. Furthermore, according to a report in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine, 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 were due to excessive medical bills. Of those filings, 75% had health insurance. Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., lead author of the study says, “If an illness is long enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little protection against medical bankruptcy, and that’s the major finding in our study.” Additionally, the legislation signed into law in 2003 is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, while still leaving the underlying problem unresolved.

Is ObamaCare perfect? No, far from it. But it is a step in the right direction. If conservatives really want a voice in crafting this debate, they need to come up with a real alternative to ObamaCare, not just maintaining the status quo. Why is it that so many of the members of Congress opposed to spending money for health care were so willing to spend it on war? By the way, the budget for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan provide for universal health care for those countries. If conservatives have a real alternative to ObamaCare, I would love to hear it, but if all you trumpeting is the status quo, pardon me while I ignore you.