By Paul Newman
I didn’t vote for President Obama last year. I cannot imagine the circumstances under which I would vote for him in 2012. But, President Obama has almost convinced me to support his health insurance reform proposal. More important, President Obama showed me a way I could support at least 75 percent of his ideas, depending on what percent he assigns to the so-called public option provision.
Here are the essential points on which I agree with President Obama:
* Health insurance truly needs reform. ‘Nuff said.
* Every American should be covered. Yup, universal health insurance.
* The insurance pool used by senators, congressmembers, and other federal workers is a great system.
Here are the essential points on which I do not agree with President Obama:
* The public option; competition with government insurance to keep private insurance companies honest.
* A federally appointed board to set health care guidelines.
* The health insurance system must be deficit neutral. Dream on. Let’s try to come close, though.
Our Senators, Congressmembers, and federal workers have a system President Obama uses as a model: great coverage, fair prices, individual choice. The leverage of millions of prospective customers, and the federal requirement to offer specific levels of coverage, result in a system almost any of us would settle for. It works just fine without a public option.
Certainly, the federal government should watchdog insurance companies. Presumably they already do that for Senators, Congressmembers, and federal workers. If we can’t trust the feds with that job, we’d better forget the whole thing.
Let’s say to every American:
* You must buy health insurance.
* You may keep what you have now, or you may join the same system our Senators, Congressmembers, and federal workers have open to them.
* Businesses, large and small, may also join the system and offer its benefits to their employees.
* If you are over 65, or if you demonstrate economic need, you are in the system for free. Just pick your policy.
* Medicare and Medicaid are gone. We won’t need them anymore. State governments will save trillions on Medicaid.
Insurance companies will have an easier time handling the major medical claims that come with advancing age, if those claims are offset by the premiums of younger Americans, whose major medical expenses will not come for decades. That’s one of the benefits of requiring all Americans to participate.
If the health insurance system of our Senators, Congressmembers, and federal workers is deficit neutral, then we all can join in without breaking the federal bank. Seniors already have Medicare deducted from their Social Security. The new system can do the same sort of thing. Insurance for the economic bottom will cost taxpayer dollars. Is there a choice?
What do we do about illegals? Here’s what. We allow them to pay, same as everyone else. We give it free to those over 65, and those who can prove economic need, same as everyone else. Yes, they have to come out of the shadows, but we should all declare King’s X when health care is involved. Be honest, we do that already.
(You were thinking deport them, perhaps? If we can find illegals to provide government health care, why can’t we find them to deport? A legitimate point, but let’s not snarl the health insurance discussion just now.)
What about non-federal government workers? What about the military? What about more doctors and nurses? What about politicians appointing folks to set medical guidelines that may be voted into law? There are plenty of other issues to discuss, but not in one article. We, Congress, and President Obama should not go running through this minefield. Our health care system truly is a matter of life and death.
Having said that, with Congress back in session, why not ask them to include the rest of us in the insurance system that works so well for them, and for millions of people just like us, who are lucky enough to work for the federal government? It’s a great start, with a proven program. If it works, just think of the confidence the American people will have in the next steps.
Paul Newman, a retired Republican political consultant, lives in Oak Harbor.
