Try Saving Healthcare, Not the Insurance Industry

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

24 June 17

et’s face it, Obamacare is not sustainable. The reason is the private insurance industry is not sustainable unless they are allowed to let sick people die. There is also a huge problem with letting the market determine cost when life and death are on the line. I would say that being able to say “pay this for your surgery, or die” is an unfair bargaining position.

America would be a better place without AETNA, Wellmark, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and other health insurance companies. They are the real death panels that the right accused Obamacare of creating. Obamacare fully implemented, and with some tinkering, is a profitable system for the insurance industry. Obamacare sabotaged by the GOP could cut into those profits. Obamacare will never be an affordable option for patients.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress should be focusing on how to save the healthcare industry, not the insurance industry.

I do not support the current efforts to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a worse system. Obamacare was a step forward. I do, however, recommend replacing Obamacare with a better system. Obamacare saved my life, while at the same time it is keeping me from getting the best treatment.

I have end-stage kidney failure. I work and buy my insurance on the exchange. Obamacare finally allowed me to get insurance and access healthcare. I was able to start treating my type 2 diabetes. It was too late however to save my kidneys, and my insurer will not pay for a transplant in Des Moines. My story is not that uncommon. Insurance companies put profit before what is best for the patient. That’s why public healthcare is the best answer.

If I lived in Canada, I might not have ever had kidney failure; my diabetes would have received treatment earlier. If I were in Canada, I wouldn’t be hearing that my doctor can’t put me on the transplant list because my insurer won’t pay for it.

I acknowledge that with Republicans in power we are not going to move to single payer anytime soon. But Democrats should stop saying that Obamacare only needs tinkering. The American people understand that it needs more than tinkering, and they are not going to become confident in a party that doesn’t understand their concerns.

Single payer will not happen in this Congress, but it is time to make it a demand of the Democratic Party.

There is no comparison between single payer and the GOP plan unveiled in the Senate this week. The Republican plan would be a disaster for the American people. Particularly for people nearing Medicare eligibility but not quite there yet. They are the people who need coverage the most.

Under single payer, we all pay our taxes, and everything is covered — it’s simple.

Under the GOP insurance reform bill, the oldest people under 65 would pay five times more than younger people. Medicaid would be cut starting in 2021. Medicaid coverage for long-term care could be cut as federal payments to states decline. Insurance companies would be required to accept all applicants regardless of health status. But the draft bill would let states ask permission to reduce required coverage, also called “essential health benefits,” which would give insurers some discretion over what they offer in their plans, and possibly change what they can charge consumers. Services to the disabled covered by Medicaid could be cut as federal funding to states declines over time. Medicaid would not be required to include mental health after 2019. For other types of insurance, requirements could change in states that request a waiver.

The plan unveiled by the Senate is a tax cut for the wealthy and a sweetheart deal for the insurance industry, which will be able to cover less for more money. The plan is cruel to people who need healthcare, especially those between 50 and 65 years old who are starting to need healthcare the most. It is cruel to the disabled and mentally ill.

Some of you are saying that it is kind to young, healthy people. I remind you of something a disabled activist told the Women’s March crowd in Des Moines: You should all support assistance for the disabled since you will all face disability one day, it is called old age. In thirty years, all those in their 20s who will benefit from not being mandated to pay for a plan today will wish the mandate still existed when it becomes impossible for them to afford to pay the premiums and co-pays they will have to pay when they start getting sick. Well, unless we get them a real national healthcare system before then.

Of course, the Senate bill punts the end of Medicaid expansion until after the 2020 election. They know they could not get away with it if it went into effect before the 2018 elections.

It is time for us to stand up and say healthcare is a right. We must stop allowing the health insurance industry to profit without providing any services. Doctors and nurses provide us services. Hospitals and clinics provide medical professionals with the tools to treat us. Insurance companies only provide a barrier to needed treatments. The government can replace the insurance industry and guarantee funding for the treatments we need, and they can do it more cost-effectively than the profit-driven insurance industry.

Healthcare for all, not health insurance.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott moved to Des Moines in 2015 to cover the Iowa Caucus.

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