Health-Care & The Public Option...10/27/09

The Public Option is back!
By Peter Fenn - 10/26/09

After the sound and fury and uncivil action at town meetings in August, it looks as though level heads may prevail on healthcare after all.The public option is back because the attacks have been over the top and the facts have come to light, moving the ball forward. Now, 57 percent of Americans say they favor a government-sponsored healthcare option. Even 76 percent favor it for those who can’t afford a private plan. An incredible 73 percent of physicians favor the public option. Why the change? Why the rapid movement? First, the answer for members of Congress is “The Big Insurance Companies made me do it!” They should have kept their mouths shut and their heads low. Instead they are now the face of just who wants to stop reform … shades of Darth Vader rides again! Those poor, humble insurance companies just saw their profits go up 428 percent in seven years. Yes, just as your premiums were doubling over the last decade. They made $2.4 billion in 2000, and that skyrocketed to $12.9 billion in 2007. Now, just why wouldn’t the insurance companies love the status quo? The second reason for the expanding support is that many small businesses are coming aboard. They are seeing health insurance costs rise — from $4,500 per employee in 2008 to an estimated $5,500 in 2010. Forty percent of our labor force works in a small business, and a cost of over $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years will break their backs. Now that we know that healthcare reform will cut that bill by $855 billion, over a third, small business “gets it.” Finally, it is clear that reform is going to provide better care at a lower cost for more people than the status quo. All the talk about a “government-run program” is going up in smoke. All the projections about disaster just around the corner, socialism, death panels, rationing, are going the way of Halloween. Let’s hope that members of Congress rise to the occasion and pass a bill that takes us a big step forward to real reform.