by Carol Levy

Created on: August 22, 2009   Last Updated: August 23, 2009

Being out in the field and talking with people about reforms I am astounded at the level of ignorance/the lies they believe.

The first problem in the acceptance of an overhaul of the system is the misnomer of health care reform. In actuality it is health care INSURANCE reform. The more people who understand this the higher the numbers of those who agree it needs to be done.

For those of us who are able to have private health insurance, our mouths go agape each time we get another increase in the premiums we pay.

Why are they so high? Forgetting greed for the purposes of this title, we pay for those who are ill and we pay for those who are under insured and uninsured.

Each visit to the ER by someone without coverage increases the prices not only hospitals charge to make up for the lack of payment for these individuals, the hospitals then pass this on to the insurance companies with their price increases. And we then have the premium increase.

Covering those who are insured is also a public health issue. Johnny's Mom can't afford to take him to the pediatrician so he does not get his shots. He develops whooping cough, a disease that is on the increase.1 (or the Flu or another contagious illness) and passes it on to his classmates and others. If his family has coverage then he will get his shots and other preventive pediatric care. The same is true of adults.

Cases of Tuberculosis are on the rise. Often the cause is that the uninsured is not diagnosed in time and/or they do not complete the treatment plan. TB is highly contagious. Get the uninsured insured and more will get treatment.

This is reform: get the uninsured insured.

Some say 'If they don't work they are lazy and do not deserve to be covered." or "I do not want reform if illegals will be covered or if abortion will be covered or if there are 'death panels'. Those have been proven repeatedly to not be the case.

For those of us doing well now, we are healthy, have jobs, have insurance, we need to remember that may not always be the case. Lose your job and have a pre-existing condition? The chances are you will not be able to get insurance, and if you can the cost will be prohibitively high. Should you be penalized for having had cancer or another illness? The congress does not think so. The same applies if you lose your job and your employer was paying for coverage. Should no job = no insurance? Again the congress does not think so.

If you become disabled should that equal an inability to get health insurance? The congress, again, does not think so.

We need to care for the least among us, that is one of the components of the reform plan. If the compassionate quotient in some is tapped out then let selfishness take over.

With these reforms the country wins either way.
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1. http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/2008/Dece mber/Whooping-Cough-Rates-Rise-in-the-US.html .(Choosing not to vaccinate your child is not considered for purposes of this discussion.)

2. http://www.chestjournal.org/content/133/4/862.full

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