With the implementation of additional provisions of the Affordable Care Act set for January, debate is heating up once again about health care in America. It’s a debate that touches on many deeply held beliefs for people, in arenas such as ethics, finances and the role of government.
It seems as though no one is truly happy with the provisions of the ACA, often called Obamacare. Many of those on the right feel it goes so far as to be unconstitutional due to its mandate that nearly all Americans purchase health insurance, while those on the left say it’s not going to address the core problems of our current system.
Some public opinion polls have shown that as many as 62 percent of Americans want to see government-funded health care rather than the ACA or the private insurance system currently in place, but this option was removed from the ACA early on, despite attempts by several legislators to put the discussion on the table.
The documentary film “The Healthcare Movie,” created by a couple from Washington state in 2011, which explores single-payer health care in Canada, will be shown at the McArthur Public Library in Biddeford this coming Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m., and it’s a good conversation starter for this important debate.
“Single-payer health care” has been thrown around as a buzzword for some time now, with attempts to institute it here since 1912, according to the film. During the post-WWII Red Scare period, the idea was deemed “socialized medicine” to stress a connection to the socialist governing method, which was particularly anathema at that time and still holds a significant stigma for many.
Whenever this idea comes up, it’s inevitable the Canadian single-payer system will be mentioned as an example. Most people know little about how it works for our neighbors to the north, and the documentary touches on some of those details. Canadians effectively are all on what we know as Medicare, with the government paying their medical bills to private doctors and hospitals.
For Canadians, their income and sales taxes are generally higher, though exact figures are difficult to come by, and direct comparisons are nearly impossible due to the intricacies of tax structures and differences between our states and their provinces in the way they assess taxes. Life-saving care is immediate, but the wait times we’ve all heard about in Canada are real, according to the documentary, with an average wait of 18.2 weeks for non-urgent surgery ”“ such as joint repair.
Legislation has been submitted in the House to institute a single-payer program in the U.S., HR 676, known as “Medicare for All,” but details are few, as cost analyses are not complete. What’s proposed so far is to raise taxes on the top 5 percent of earners and increase the payroll income tax progressively, while also taxing other unearned income such as that made on stock and bond transactions.
The United States is unique in being the only country of its stature to not offer a health care program for all of its citizens. The poor and elderly are covered by Medicaid and Medicare, respectively, but everyone in between is left to pay very high premiums on either their own private insurance plan or a plan through their employer, neither of which will cover all the costs associated with their care, should they need it.
In 2010 alone, 922,819 Americans filed bankruptcy due to medical bills ”“ and 78 percent of those people were insured, according to the documentary.
While we as Americans have long prided ourselves on self-sufficiency, it touches on most people’s empathy when we see middle-class, hard-working people going broke from the expenses of treating a long-term illness or catastrophic event. Clearly, the current system has failed.
The solution, however, is up for discussion. Many who believe in America’s ideal of individual freedom reject the idea of being required to pay so much of their earned income toward a public health system that they may or may not use, whereas they now have the option of purchasing insurance or not. (Come January, they’ll have the option of either buying in or paying a small penalty.)
And while some people ”“ including President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius ”“ see health care as a “right,” it’s certainly not comparable to our guaranteed rights, such as assembly, religion and speech, since no one can really have a right to another person’s services.
The question is, it is the role of the government to tax its people to provide health care services for all? The answer from the American public has been “no” repeatedly for 100 years now, but if not, perhaps there are other options that can be considered.
We encourage people to check out “The Healthcare Movie” and participate in the discussion Tuesday, or check out a copy on their own time. With families going bankrupt, people avoiding medical care due to cost concerns, and the nation now spending 20 percent of its GDP on health care, with results inferior to countries with socialized medicine, it’s clear we need to do something. While it may or may not be a single-payer approach, it’s hard to believe that we can’t find a solution that upholds American capitalistic values and provides affordable health care options.
Efforts to amend the Affordable Care Act to make it a workable plan for everyone have stalled due to partisan stonewalling in Congress, and Americans need to step up to tell our government that we’re fed up with such behavior and want to see real change to our system so that people can afford to get the care they need.
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