Op-Ed: The Time For Health Care Action Is Now

Op-Ed

Sanders Op-Ed: The Time For Health Care Action Is Now

BY Bernie Sanders

Our health care system is disintegrating. Today, 46 million people have no health insurance. Even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. One reason more than 18,000 Americans die every year from preventable illnesses is that 60 million people, including many with insurance, do not have their own doctor.

In the midst of this horrendous lack of coverage, the United States spends far more per capita on health care than any other nation. The average American spends about $7,900 per year, almost twice as much per person as any other major country -- all of which have national health care programs guaranteeing coverage to all of their people.

Despite all that we spend, our health care outcomes lag behind many other countries in infant mortality, life expectancy and preventable deaths. That is because much of the money isn't really going for health care. With 1,300 private insurance companies and thousands of different health benefit programs designed to maximize profits, our country spends an incredible 30 percent of each health care dollar on administration and billing, exorbitant CEO compensation packages, advertising, lobbying and campaign contributions. Public programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the VA are administered for much less.

Not surprisingly, while health care costs are soaring, so are the profits of private health insurance companies. From 2003 to 2007, the combined profits of the nation's major health insurance companies increased by 170 percent. Executives receive lavish compensation packages -- averaging $14.2 million for the top seven companies.

In my view, the United States must join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to every man, woman and child in a cost-effective way. The evidence is overwhelming that we must end the for-profit private insurance company domination of health care in our country and move toward a publicly funded, single-payer Medicare for All system.

A publicly funded, single-payer Medicare for All Program would provide freedom of choice in terms of doctors, hospitals and other medical providers. Most important, it would save $400 billion a year in administrative waste by eliminating the private insurers' efforts to fight claims, issue denials and make sure that the people they cover are profit generators.

Sadly, the single-payer legislation I introduced in the Senate and that others have offered in the House will not likely be passed into law this year. The reason: the enormous power of the insurance and drug companies that over the last decade spent hundreds of millions on lobbying and campaign contributions.

While legislation now winding its way through the Senate Health Committee is nowhere near as effective as single-payer, it does have some positive attributes. They are:

An effort to provide at least a minimal level of coverage for all Americans by increasing Medicaid eligibility and providing insurance subsidies for low- and moderate-income people.

A radical improvement in primary health care by providing a medical home for every American. This would be accomplished by substantially increasing the number of Federally Qualified Community Health Centers and the number of primary care doctors, nurses and dentists.

A major increase in funding to significantly improve our efforts at disease prevention and lowering the numbers of Americans who fall ill to chronic diseases.

An increased focus on quality control and trying to assess why some medical facilities provide better care at far lower costs than others.

Efforts to expand independent living and help keep the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes if they prefer to live at home.

The most contentious issue being debated is whether all Americans should be entitled to the choice of a public option -- a federally-run, premium-based, Medicare-type plan -- which would compete with private insurance companies. This is an approach I support, as do most Democrats. It is vigorously opposed by the insurance companies and drug companies -- and all Senate Republicans.

The fight for real health care reform is slow and complicated, but the stakes are enormous. With the health care industry spending tens of millions on lobbying and campaign contributions, it is imperative that all Americans stand up and fight for a health care system that is worthy of our great nation.

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