Jason Jorge ENC 1101 17 November, 2010 Professor Grosso Healthcare Reform Nancy Gerber runs a small child

care service out of her home and thoroughly enjoys her job. She employs a few other in-

dividuals to help with the child care, but something is terribly wrong with Nancy. She has been diagnosed with stage-four uter-

ine cancer. There was hope though because Nancy was covered under her states basic health plan. She was covered for her surgery and even chemotherapy, but after the insurance company caught wind that their client (Ms. Gerber) was using up a lot of their money they decided to drop her from the insurance plan and continued to send her mail saying that she was only covered for a certain amount of treatment and that they would no longer pay for her valuable follow-up care. Everyday is stressful for Nancy because she continually worries that her cancer may return and she wont be able to receive the care she needs to survive and care for her children. The United States healthcare system is run by private sectors that are all for profit. These companies do not care for

the safety and care of the millions of Americans with limited or no health care at all. The only solution is to initiate new

public health insurance to lead the way for universal health care to all US citizens. The delusion that private insurance

bests universal healthcare is a fallacy because private insurance hinders our economy and puts millions of lives at risk. A major issue in America right now is the economic crisis. Many politicians and intellectuals debate back and forth on how to fix our deficit and restore Americas competitive edge in business. Dean mentions over the past several years, for each

car produced, General Motors has spent more money on health insurance for the people making the car than on the steel to build it. Starbucks spends more on healthcare than it does on coffee And manufacturing firms in the United States spend al-

beans.

most three times more on healthcare per worker than the foreign average (2009, p. 9). This dilemma clearly states that more

than a third of Americas healthcare dollars are being spent on something other than health. The increasing healthcare costs are threatening Americas competitive business edge in the global economy. Due to the rising costs, many American business be-

come fearful and usually tend to outsource their jobs to countries with nationalized (universal) healthcare systems. Not

only does this hinder unemployed Americans seeking employment, it also affects their eligibility to receive healthcare. American businesses are paying more for healthcare, but American workers are receiving less coverage. As Senate Finance Commit-

tee chairman Max Baucus explained in a 2008 white paper, this is because the cost of employer-sponsored coverage is rising beyond the means of American businesses--particularly small ones--and workers alike (Dean p 12). The trouble with private health insurance is that it mainly attracts the young and healthy applicants. Some may argue that this a good deal, but if researched further, one would see that these types of plans only work for individuals with low health expenditures and dont protect them from catastrophic health events. Many Americans purchase private insurance and are happy

with their coverage of $50,000 per year, but what they dont realize is that if they were to be diagnose with some sort of cancer, the initial treatment alone would surpass $100,000. Situa-

tions like this happen all the time and families accrue tremendous medical debt--debt they will be paying off for the rest of their lives. The problem with private health insurance, par-

ticularly in the individual market, is not just that it is inadequate; it also stems from companies having to report quarterly profits that must increase every year to satisfy Wall Street. In order to do so, they often have to cut health benefits (Dean p. 8). Healthcare reform would change everything we know about healthcare today. Americans who are employed, unemployed, sick, The option to choose

healthy, young or old would be covered.

from a government run universal healthcare plan or to keep private insurance would be laid out on the table. This would break

the monopoly of private insurance and give the American people a choice for the healthcare they want and deserve. The new

healthcare reform would eliminate the option for private insurance companies to revoke care due to pre-existing conditions and eliminate the debt many families would continue to face. Not

only would this healthcare be able to treat Americans with their primary care physicians and hospitals, but make it portable incase of emergencies while traveling. Healthcare reform has been a serious issue for a long time and President Obama has made it clear that this is one of his main priorities. In March, 2010 President Obama signed The Pa-

tient Protection and Affordable Care Act which is the most consequential and far-reaching healthcare law to emerge from Congress since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 (Reid, 2010). Although this bill will not get us to universal coverage, it is a step in the right direction toward it. This

new bill will expand coverage through Medicaid and private insurance. Easing the qualifications for Medicaid and re-evaluat-

ing the definition of low-income and including families without children will allow about 16 million uninsured people to get medical treatment through Medicaid. Through the new law an ad-

ditional 16 million uninsured Americans will gain access to pri-

vate insurance that they were not able to receive or afford. is expected in 2014 that each state will set up an insurance

It

exchange. Essentially, that means an online market, like the web sites that sell books or airline tickets. People who dont

get insurance through their employer can go to this marketplace and find a choice of plans from various insurance companies (Reid p. 246). This style of exchange will offer different lev-

els of coverage plans to give buyer a broad choice.