Fill in the blank: When I think about “health care reform,” I feel _________________________.
Chances are, you didn’t actually write anything, but let’s pretend you had. I’d wager many of us would have written “kind of sleepy and maybe hungry.” That’s okay. This article is for you.
Some of us might have gone with “vaguely angry… because weren’t democrats supposed to pass that by now?” That’s great: this article is for you too.
Maybe one or two Politics majors actually did try to write something, but were so angry at the corporate-owned, “moderate” Blue Dog democrats in Congress that they exploded into a million gruesome pieces. They are screwed, because we still don’t have health care reform and they can’t pay the premiums to put themselves back together.
That’s why reform is too important to fail.
The U.S. is the last industrialized country without a universal health care system, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the American health care system at 37th in overall performance. In 2006, roughly 47 million: or 16 percent of Americans: were uninsured, and the White House estimates that over 14,000 Americans are now losing their insurance every day.
The U.S. is tied with countries like Slovakia and Taiwan for infant mortality, and ranked last among industrialized countries for rates of preventable deaths for those under 75. Yet of any of those countries, the U.S. spends the highest percent of its GDP on health care: over 30 percent of which goes to the giant private insurance bureaucracy.
Those statistics are scary, but assuming you’re young and healthy, this issue still may rank below “Gossip Girl.” You probably feel invincible right now. You look pretty good. Why should you care?
Scary statistics aside, reform would affect you: especially as college students seeking employment over the next few years.
Want the ability to move from job to job or start a small business without worrying about health insurance? Then you need reform. The Small Business Majority, a national advocacy group, estimates that 1.6 million aspiring American entrepreneurs are locked into jobs to retain health insurance: that could be you next year.
Meaningful reform would create a public health insurance option to address these problems, while also driving down costs of current private plans. Without reform, the cost of health insurance for an average American family is predicted to double in the next decade alone.
The proposed health reform will cost $1 trillion in lost revenue. For some perspective, Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans have cost $1.8 trillion in lost revenue, and are estimated to cost $3.5 trillion in total. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost trillions and the annual defense budget sits at $6.5 trillion.
In terms of the outlook for our economy, health care is expected to account for about 18 percent of the United States’ GDP this year. Without reform, that share is projected to rise to 28 percent in 2030 and to 34 percent in 2040.
Reform is on the line in Congress this fall. The trillion dollar question remains: who will our elected representatives choose to represent: The people who vote for them, or the donor corporations that profit from the status quo?
If our overwhelming Democratic majority can’t pass a meaningful health care reform bill this fall, it’s time to play hardball. The stakes should be high: Democrats must either pass a good bill, or those standing in the way of reform must face primary challenges as soon as possible.
Democrats may lose seats in Congress. But what’s the point of a huge, filibuster-proof majority if you can’t pass a worthwhile health reform bill? Remember, this has been a priority of the Democratic party since Harry Truman’s 1948 campaign. Now is the time to care, and remind your representatives to represent you: not the health insurance industry.
