Speak Out As If Our Lives Depended On It

Micah Weinberg at the New America Foundation offers an alternative to the "public vs. private" insurance programs being offered by health care reform advocates. The crux of the debate is whether opening up Medicare to the uninsured represents a real solution or a kind of socialized medicine.

But Weinberg calls it a "false choice:"

Health care reform could offer Americans a choice of a public insurance plan that competes fairly with private plans. In basic terms, this fair competition would have three critical ground rules: equality under the law, self-sufficiency and free choice. Equality under the law means that all regulations apply equally to all plans, public and private. Self-sufficiency means that all plans cover their own costs. Free choice means that those who cannot afford insurance will be given government subsidies to choose either a public or private insurance plan.

He also proposes looking to several states, which have successfully created public-private partnerships to offer plans insured by the state. We have had a lot of success with public-private partnerships, including our work with Healthy San Francisco and a collaboration in Los Angeles to open a trauma center at California Hospital Medical Center after the closure of Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center.

In the end, we have to agree with his final assessment:

Falling back on easy answers in this debate is a hard temptation to resist. From one side we hear, "We should just let the free market work," from the other, "We should have a single-payer system … like Canada."

The problem with these simple slogans is that neither reflects the reality of the challenges that we must face if we are to end the health care crisis and restore the strength of our economy. We must call upon each side of this debate to work together toward a practical solution. Though it is difficult to make the voice of moderation heard, we must speak out as if our lives depended on it.

Because in the case of health care policy, they actually do.

This has been our mantra for some time now. It will take the best minds from many fields to make health care reform a reality, but it's imperative that we do so. Our president/chief executive officer, Lloyd Dean, will be in attendance at the White House Health Care Summit in Los Angeles on April 6th and we'll continue to advocate for a health care system that provides affordable health insurance to all.

 

Comments

[Colleen McMurray]

Well, well, well. Of course comments are moderated. Communism is based on moderating people's opinions. Your Catholic organization does not understand the first thing about what nationalizing health care will do to this country, what it will do to the freedoms that each individual possesses. You are terribly foolish to actually want to put your trust in a government run health care system. Do you have all the facts or are you just caught up in your fantasy world of health care for all, and all is well. Why don't you do some research. This proposed plan is not just and it has NEVER worked in any country who has tried it. We will be giving up our freedom as we know it when we will rely on our government to run our lives, for if they run our health, they will run our lives. Catholics like you have the blood on their hands for promoting abortions to be paid for using federal dollars. Stop relying on Obama to save us, he is not God.