This story was reported for San Diego News Network on March 30, 2009.
If President Obama thought his weekend would work as a sort of sabbatical from criticism or even a bit of work, he was mistaken. After the president spoke about his intent of universal health care last Thursday, he was attacked on Capitol Hill – creating a flurry that became far from a tranquil weekend.
During the president’s first online-town-hall-meeting, Richard from San Diego asked him, “Why can we not have a universal health care system, like many European countries, where people are treated based on needs rather than financial resources?”
President Obama responded: “Now is the time to reform the health care system, not four years from now, not eight years from now, not 20 years from now, now.”
Since those words, fireworks blasted as though it was the Fourth of July.
During the meeting, Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said universal health care would be unfair.
“There’s a lot of us that feel that the public option, that the government is an unfair competitor,” he said.
Then on Saturday during the Republicans’ response to President Obama’s weekly radio address, Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., attacked the president’s proposed budget that would invest heavily into the health care system. And more specifically, he said the universal health care system idea would not improve an American’s health.
“We also believe you improve everyone’s health care not by nationalizing the health care system and putting the government between you and your doctor, but by assuring that every American has access to quality health insurance and choices in health care,” said Gregg, who came close to becoming Obama’s commerce secretary.
And, on Sunday, Florida state Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Teuqesta, told the Sun-Sentinel that employers who already offer health insurance may drop their plans.
“Millions are going to have to go into a government health program because employers, who pay for their insurance, could save money. That would drive the private sector out of the competition,” he said.
Although, a national universal health care program is still in the mist, San Francisco has offered a similar program since 2006. Called “Healthy San Francisco,” it is administered by the city’s Department of Health and serves about 35,000 people. The program, it’s Web site says, isn’t a health insurance program but offers basic medical care. Moreover, the program caters to local residents despite “immigration status, employment status, or pre-existing medical conditions.” Last fiscal year, the program generated about $12 million in revenue and spent $16 million. This fiscal year, the estimated revenue is peaked at $32 million with expenditures estimating at $29 million.
And, according to Ben Furnas of Center for American Progress Action Fund, that is the route to take. Furnas, who recently completed a report on the “hidden tax” of health insurance in the U.S., has said he found that those that are insured are paying more than necessary.
His report found that when an uninsured American cannot pay his or her bill, the dues are moved.
“The uninsured pay more for care-and get less-than those with insurance. But when the uninsured cannot pay, health care providers shift those costs to those who can pay-those who have insurance coverage,” stated the report.
This “hidden tax,” as the organization calls it, accumulates to about $410 in additional costs for the average, insured American and $1,100 for a family. This “hidden tax” is generated from the estimated 87 million uninsured Americans.
“The report illustrates that there is ‘cost-shifting,’ creating an increase in health insurance fees,” Furnas said. “This is all because our health care system doesn’t work, it doesn’t provide complete coverage.”
Furnas went on to say the one clear solution to the problem of “hidden tax,” was implementing a universal health care system and that it would positively affect the recession.
Ronald Bailey contests this opinion, however.
Bailey, who is the science editor for Reason magazine and a former economist for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said to enact a universal health care program, as that of Canada, now would be “terrible.”
“[It would] stop medical innovation immediately,” Bailey said. “New medical innovations would decline and we would suffer. It just doesn’t help companies compete with abroad.”
Bailey did offer two solutions though.
He said the American government could either offer vouchers to help those uninsured buy some sort of private health insurance or take the Swiss government approach and require all residents to have health insurance but also require cost-ceilings on insurance companies.
In a 2009 survey conducted by consulting firm Deloitte, 73 percent of Americans found the U.S. health care system “confusing” while 94 percent found health care to be a “threat to their personal financial security.” Fifty-two percent also found that money was being wasted in the U.S. system and 80 percent would grade the system below a “C.”
During the town hall meeting, President Obama said he was uncertain as to how universal health care would work in the U.S. But, did say the approach taken by Canada and some European countries would, most-likely, not be the route to take for America since a number of employers already offer insurance.
“The problem is, is that we have what’s called a legacy, a set of institutions that aren’t that easily transformed,” President Obama said. “And so what evolved in America was an employer-based system. It may not be the best system if we were designing it from scratch. But that’s what everybody is accustomed to. That’s what everybody is used to. It works for a lot of Americans. And so I don’t think the best way to fix our health care system is to suddenly completely scrap what everybody is accustomed to and the vast majority of people already have. Rather, what I think we should do is to build on the system that we have and fill some of these gaps.”
The current U.S. health care system is a blend of private and public coverage. From the public sector, the government’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that $2.26 trillion was invested in 2007.
The House and Senate are expected to vote this week on the president’s proposed budget that would invest $634 billion into reforming the health care system – whether, reforming the health care system would mean creating a universal health care system has yet to be determined.
Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.