I think that we can all agree that there is a major need to reform health-care in America today. It seems that every year premiums and deductibles get higher while care and access get worse. Out-of-pocket costs for even simple office visits are soaring and sinking many Americans. The subject is especially urgent in regards to low-income, uninsured or under insured children.
In the article We Cannot Delay Health-Care Reform, Senators Baucus and Kennedy attempt to persuade us that by reforming the health-care system, especially for children, we will also heal our economic woes. It is obvious that both Senators fully support a move to Universal Health Coverage and their audience would be liberal leaning Democrats. There are many impressive statistics and reasoning's for making this move. The Senators also approve of renewing the Children's Health Insurance Program. This is where I begin to question their knowledge. The Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, sounds like a wonderful program. It is geared towards providing uninsured children with access to medical care. In reality, due to the extremely low reimbursement rate to providers for seeing CHIP patients, finding a doctor who actually accepts CHIP patients can be harder than winning the lottery. I have no problems with the government pouring money into a system that works, but CHIP does not work in its current state.
Reading this article, I can understand the logic and the passion with which the Senators have about the subject, but I think they should spend a little more time understanding what it will take to change the way insurance companies work. The article calls for more preventative care, which is often denied or limited by insurance companies. But I do agree that quality health-care should be available to Americans and that our current system is in need of a change. I would like to see how that change can realistically be made instead of just abstract ideas.