by John M. Curtis
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Copyright July 25, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

         Giving President Barack Obama’s national health care legislation more time is not a bad thing when you consider, as Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said, it’s better to get it right.  Republican opposition stems in part from what Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) calls Barack’s Waterloo, hoping, against all odds, that if Republicans defeat health care reform they’ll improve GOP chances in next years midterm elections and reduce Barack’s chances for a second term.  Far from certain, DeMint’s strategy could easily backfire, where voters lash out at Republicans for sabotaging the most important taxpayer benefit in U.S. history.  Having said that, it’s also important that Barack’s health care reform doesn’t undermine the insurance industry and weaken an already beleaguered heath care system.  There’s no point to passing legislation that harms ordinary American consumers.

            Physicians, hospitals, clinics and patients alike worry that national health care will further reduce reimbursements already so dangerously low under Medicare, Medicaid and managed care. They worry that Barack’s plan would squeeze what’s left of the brain drain from health care.  For the past 30 years, if not longer, the insurance industry has worked too many deals with health care providers to reduce benefits, assuring better earnings on Wall St. but inferior care.  Obama’s plan hopes to achieve better economies of scales and efficiencies so that, theoretically, more dollars flow to providers rather than middlemen-bureaucracies.  While there’s nothing wrong with saving money, there’s something very wrong with rationing health care benefits.  For too long, doctors and patients have been at the short end of the stick.  Barack’s plan eliminates exclusions from preexisting conditions.

            All health plans have deductibles, co-payments, waiting periods and exclusions.  Eliminating, or at least reducing them, would helps doctors and patients deliver better care.  Managed health care plans are notorious for creating so many hoops that patients can’t access benefits and doctors can’t get paid.  Above all else, any version of national health care must, like Medicare, have low co-payments, deductibles, waiting periods, and reimburse physicians reasonable rates.  Barack talks of preventive care and wellness programs, frequently used by managed care companies as an excuse to deny health care benefits.  While it’s good to keep people from getting sick, it’s not good to prevent patients from using their benefits.  Any national health plan must allow patients to seek any private doctor of their choice.  That’s a key provision of Medicare that should apply to any national plan.

            Obama’s plan, like Medicare, should offer the insurance industry a way to making money.  With Medicare, the insurance industry buys the plans from the government for a fixed dollar amount and offers their own plans called, among other things, senior health plans.  Private insurers offering senior health plans typically offer less deductibles, co-pays, waiting periods and better prescription drug benefits.  New government insurance plans could do the same thing for those individuals looking for enhancements.  Individuals trading for such plans would go at their own risk, accepting the managed care requirements making it more difficult for patients, physicians and hospitals to access benefits.  For individuals living on fixed incomes, these plans offer attractive benefits, despite he obvious disadvantages.  Giving insurances companies a ways to make money should alleviate opposition.  

             Giving national health care a boost, a new White House study indicates that small business could save up to 18% on employer-based health care costs.  For years, the insurance industry capitalized on volume, affording business price breaks for bigger volume.  National health care forces the insurance to lower costs to small businesses and finally eliminate exclusions for preexisting conditions.  While the insurance industry has finally agreed to make some changes, they’ve gouged individuals and small businesses for too long.  Reducing operating expenses to small, medium and large businesses should improve profit margins, earnings and cash-flow needed to expand employment.  When individuals pay less for health care and have more cash in their pockets it should help stimulate the economy, improve consumer spending and grow the Gross Domestic Product.

            Behind closed doors, conferees in the House and Senate burn the midnight oil placating the insurance lobby while, at the same time, cutting a deal that satisfied both sides of the aisle.  While Republicans, like DeMint, seek Obama’s political demise, others recognize constituents suffering without health insurance.  Any government plan must be truly better than no plan at all and not, inadvertently, contribute to the managed care nightmare plaguing many Health Maintenance Organizations and managed care companies.  DeMint has a tough time explaining why so many senior members of the House and Senate routinely use Medicare benefits and cash Social Security checks.  Truth be known, Americans don’t care whether health plans are private or public as long as they deliver quality care.  If Barack’s plan does as well as Medicare, most people will be overjoyed.

John M. Curtis write politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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