As the consideration about health care reform heats up, it would be good to review some facts. About 50 million Americans, including many in our community, do not have health insurance, and many more are underinsured. Even more are hard aware that they can be dropped from insurance if they get sick or might not be wrapped because of some pre-existing condition.Other developed countries spend far less than our country on health care and have better outcomes such as durability and infant mortality rates.Many leaders, including executives at GM and other large corporations, as well as many politicians and most Americans, see the want for reform. The question is, can we agree to agree?Consensus is building for a authority that everyone carry health insurance while prohibiting insurance companies from selectively cherry-picking patients.Three quarters of Americans favor a Medicare like public option so that people have a choice between personal and public insurance. This public option has been endorsed by a number of cautious arrangment including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, and the Mayo Clinic.Some assert that this is socialized medicine, but it is no more socialized than Medicare or veterans’ care. Some assert that it would create panels to agree if a person deserves to get care, but it would not. Some assert that reform would be too expensive, but with the way things are going now, we can’t afford NOT to change the system, and donation an option like Medicare to everyone is critical to including costs.When Medicare was passed in 1965, there were urgent predictions about socialism and death panels; once in place, Medicare has proven to be effective and popular. Can we expand it to cover more people? I think we can.Jim Deming,Tomah
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