By Jocelyn Lam
Is health care a right or a privilege? This simple question has jarred in the mouths of politicians for years, and yet its answer seems so clear. Our current system points to the latter and yet our universal need for health care is tantamount to America’s ability to provide not only better health, but social justice. Above our struggling economy, trade policies, and the War on Terror is the real America – its people and workforce. In this view, health care reform is arguably the most important issue facing working families in 2009. The capacity of each individual to support his or her family and contribute to society is increasingly affected by the direct link between opportunity and health. In other words, there is a vicious cycle that exists: if you are sick then you cannot work, and if you cannot work then you cannot make money and obtain health insurance. From a moral perspective then, it becomes our responsibility to fight against large insurance companies to deliver the health care millions across America desperately need. This need for adequate coverage unites Americans throughout the country, whether one lives in a bustling urban center, a suburban hometown, or the rural countryside.
Today, more than ever working Americans are in dire need of health care reform. The current recession has led us into unprecedented tough times for Americans in terms of employment opportunities and access to health care. Its impact on the worker is further exacerbated by the country’s current system of health care. According to the Institute of Medicine, the United States is also the “only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure all citizens have coverage.” In this country, health insurance can be obtained through an employer, through a government program like Medicare or Medicaid, or purchased from a private insurance company. The employer-subsidized method is by far the largest way most Americans receive their health insurance. Private purchase is the least common, and the government programs are limited to certain groups of eligible people. With the multi-billion dollar state budget deficit, many who rely on the government for their coverage are facing a potential risk of losing it. The Seattle Times recently released an article stating the senate’s proposed funding cuts would lead to the removal 45,000 people off health insurance. These cuts would severely impact the state’s ability to provide coverage through Basic Health and would mean that many of the working poor would have to live without insurance. With the struggling economy and millions of layoffs across the nation, more and more Americans are losing their job each day and with their jobs go their means to health care as well. The United State’s Department of Labor’s Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows workers and their families who lose their health care benefits under certain circumstances such as loss of employment to continue their coverage. However, the high cost of COBRA combined with low unemployment compensation makes this act unfeasible for recently laid-off workers. Imagine losing your job and having to choose between paying the expensive, unsubsidized insurance premiums in full offered by COBRA or paying for food and housing. It’s not much of a choice considering that most would sacrifice their immediate health care coverage in times when they’ve lost their only source of income.
So when Americans don’t have health insurance what do they do when they become sick? For many, they put off health care until they become really sick and then find themselves in overcrowded emergency rooms across the country. Increasingly, hospitals are unable to meet the needs of their ER patients. With the recession, the government funding for public healthcare facilities is tight and now is not the time to cut funding but to promote reforms that will increase health care coverage. It is in the government’s interest to do so, as ER procedures and subsequent specialty visits cost the government significantly more money to treat conditions that could have been prevented by regular doctor’s visits. This is due to the higher cost of specialty care as opposed to primary care, and by creating the necessary reforms to implement universal health coverage and routine primary care we may, in fact, lessen the government’s debt as opposed to increasing it. This is precisely why health insurance is so important for working and previously working Americans today. The debate continues as to how the high cost of health care spending and current lack of access for millions of Americans can be comprehended and changed. What is certain is that on top of the stack of government mandates is the need for health care reform as the single most important issue facing working families today. This sentiment was expressed during the historical 2008 presidential campaign where according to a news article poll: “78% of voters say they want the next President to deal with health-care reform even if it means greater government debt, while 70% say health-care reform is more important than cutting taxes.”
While funding for government-run health care programs are being cut and the resulting strain being felt in the emergency rooms of city and county hospitals, we must not forget the even greater impact in rural America. I had the opportunity once to travel to a small town in central Washington to learn about the health care challenges in providing rural medicine. Through an inside look at the functioning of a small community hospital and my interviews with the two doctors and two nurses who offered the only medical services within this town and within a sixty mile radius, I found the stark reality of health care in the rural sector hard to believe. Rural Americans have significantly less access to the sprawling health networks available in larger cities as well as to local medical providers. I witnessed the great need for primary care and the burden on the few primary care providers to alleviate the higher rates of disability, substance abuse, chronic diseases, and illiteracy present. Furthermore, the scarcity of physicians and health care workers is followed by inadequate funding and resources. With these serious obstacles to providing adequate health care, it is not surprising that it is here too that changes need to be made. According to a recent article published by the Center for Rural Affairs, the 60 million people living in rural America are the most in need of health care reform. This statement is consistent with the increased rates of rural workers engaging in self-employment or running small businesses, which lack employer-provided health care benefits. As a result, many of those living rurally do not have health insurance nor have access to affordable coverage.
Finally, I believe that promoting health care reform is a vehicle for social justice – health is a human right. Until we have found ourselves in the vicious cycle of sickness, unemployment, and lack of access to care can we begin understand that choosing to put food on the dinner table over purchasing health care insurance is no choice at all, especially when it comes down to things that are so intrinsically connected to our sense of well-being and quality of life. Universal access to health care should be a right that is enjoyed by all people living in America regardless of ability to work or pay costly premiums. Just north of our border, Canada has maintained a reputation as one of the world leaders in health and might perhaps be just the model for a universal, single-payer, and not-for-profit health care system. Perhaps it is time to turn to our neighbors and create a cohesive plan to insure all Americans.
In conclusion, no other issue is as important to our country at this time than health care reform. Not the Iraq war and the rebuilding of America or our trade policies but the health and well-being of the American people. Without healthy lives and health minds, we cannot begin to tackle the numerous other national concerns that compete for our attentions, problems that many of which carry additional pressures and predicaments outside of our control. I hope that in this essay, I have provided some convincing reasons as to why health care reform is of utmost importance in this day and age. I have argued that our current system of private and employer-subsidized insurance is insufficient for providing health care in times when companies are strung tight and unemployment is skyrocketing. Additionally, federal and state budget deficits are making it increasingly hard to keep up the demands of health care in the emergency rooms of America, partly because of the postponing of care by the uninsured until their conditions reach urgent. Moreover, the public views health care reform as among the highest in national priorities since the 2008 presidential election and with such great public support, reform should be pursued. Finally, I have advocated health and access to health care as human rights and now is the time to begin realizing that.
