Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
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closeNot only was a national single-payer approach never allowed on the table -- since it would have been the death knell for the private industry (would you care?) -- but even the public-option bills contain major concessions to the insurers, including sharp limits on who could qualify for a government-run program and delays on when the new program might take effect.
If Congress approves a public option, the health insurance industry gets a three-year reprieve before it would have to begin competing and then the competition would be limited to small businesses and to individuals. It also means that Americans facing a health care crisis today can't expect meaningful help on health insurance until 2013. Meantime, you are to be left to the mercies of private insurers.
The medical definition of "crisis" is the point in a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs that can lead to either recovery or death. It's not a three-plus-year delay. In contrast, it took less than a year for the Medicare system to be set up from scratch and begin providing health care to seniors. By piggybacking the public option onto the existing Medicare program, a new reform could be put in place even faster.
DON CLARK, Richland
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