Doesn't it feel as if everywhere you look these days, people are talking about health care reform? It's there on the daytime talk shows and the nightly news. Maybe you know someone who's worried about changes in their job's health plan. As the summer gets into full swing, and we're getting together at barbecues and the swimming pool, we're all thinking about these discussions and talking to each other. Health care is such a high priority. It's deeply personal. It touches a nerve.
And yet the main debates about health care reform are taking place in Washington, D.C., which feels so far away from most of us. You might have heard about three bills that are floating around Congress. Two of them include proposals for a government-run insurance plan, known as a public plan. The other one seems to be considering the idea of nonprofit health cooperatives, in which members control and own the co-op.
What's not included in any of these proposals? How to take waste and unnecessary costs out of the system.
We've got to take a good look at the cost of reform for each of us right now. Health care reform is a huge undertaking, and it's vital that we get a handle on the costs involved for everyone — taxpayers, insurers, doctors, and each one of us. In his proposal President Obama gives reforms ten years to pay for themselves. But that's what's going on in Washington. What about closer to home?
Because we're all connected in this undertaking, and we've all got to ask: What can I do right now? How can I contribute? Think about it: the last time you went to get a medical test or see a specialist, did you have any idea what the price tag was for the procedure or visit? We need to make that interaction between patient, doctor, and health insurer more transparent and open. And that's just one aspect of the overall health care reform undertaking.
Despite the big challenges — and the little, nagging fears we quietly share with our friends and family about our health and that of our children — we need health care reform that not only covers the uninsured but is mindful about costs in the here and now, when I walk into my doctor's office. This blog is the place where we try to make sense of the cost of health care reform. Keep checking back to stay informed and be part of the discussion.
~Susan with Regence
