The climate in Washington may have changed recently but one major concern for me and the residents of Maine has not: the need for real healthcare reform.
It’s the issue people talk to me about more than any other. Small business owners struggling to offer insurance to their employees. Seniors rationing their medication. Individuals going without the care they need.
Amid debates and partisanship, delaying and dealing, Congress has lost sight of this sad, tragic reality. It’s time to bring the debate back to creating reform that expands quality, affordable healthcare coverage, lowers costs for senior citizens, strengthens Medicare, controls rising premiums, and guarantees choice over your own care.
This is why I am pushing my colleagues to bring the public option back to the table. Along with Colorado Congressman Jared Polis, I have written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking the Senate to consider passing a public option using budget reconciliation. The process is filibuster-proof, meaning that it can avoid the parliamentary procedure that has weakened and threatened to delay reform legislation in the Senate. Over 80 of my colleagues in the House have signed the letter and joined this effort.
The public option-a publicly run insurance plan with voluntary participation-remains one of the best options to lower costs and expand coverage for millions of Americans. And it will give the insurance companies some much-needed competition, forcing them to offer better packages at better prices. It would lower prescription drug costs for seniors. It will help decrease our deficit.
And it does so while retaining and even expanding the choices you have over your own health decisions. Want to keep the doctor you have? You can. Not interested in joining the public option plan? You don’t have to. As it should be, the choice is yours.
Maybe not everyone will choose the public option, but everyone will be able to benefit from the reforms it will bring to the insurance market and healthcare system.
Bringing down the federal deficit
Paid for with consumer premiums, the public option will drive down healthcare costs through group buying power, saving the government billions on the services it offers. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan body, has estimated that the public option will save taxpayers from $25 billion to $110 billion in the next ten years; with billions more in savings once insurance companies lower their rates in competition.
Lowering insurance rates
Both Republicans and Democrats have argued that increasing competition is key to bringing down insurance costs. Indeed the market is currently dominated by a small number of large corporations. Insulated from competition, they can get away with quite a bit: taking huge bonuses and profits, denying coverage when you are sick, grossly inflating rates. Consumers have little power to keep the companies in check because there are few other places to find coverage.
Now enter a public plan offering quality coverage at an affordable rate without the profit-making high jinx. Suddenly insurance companies would have to improve their policies and rates to keep their customers. The consumer once again has choice and power.
Let’s take Maine as an example. In our state, the insurance market is dominated by Anthem, whose nearly 80 percent market share allows them to take actions like asking for a 23 percent rate increase in individual plans in Maine this year. (This comes after an 18 percent requested rate hike for last year.)
Asking for a 23 percent rate increase for individual insurance in the middle of a recession is outrageous-they are profiting on individuals who basically have no other choice for coverage. It’s a clear example of how the public option would bring fairness back to the market.
Paving way for other reforms
But the public option is just one part of comprehensive health reform. The House and Senate have already passed important measures that will prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions, protect families from medical debt, and close the Medicare Part D “donut hole” for seniors. But partisan wrangling has prevented those important reforms from becoming law.
As the public option has been taken off the table, so has public support for reform legislation-a poll in December showed that people favor the public option 2 to 1. This is a clear sign that people value the choice this alternative provides and want healthcare reform that is going to make a meaningful impact for their families and communities.
Passing a public option is the best way to get us back on track to do that.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree represents Maine’s First District in Congress. You can contact her office in Portland at 207-774-5019 or online at pingree.house.gov.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
