Your Healthcare: What has it Done for you Lately?
What would it be like if every American of every age had health insurance? Is this the meaning of "universal health coverage" or does "universal" mean that every American has the same coverage? Our representatives are debating serious questions like this right now - and coming up with some solutions that look very different from one another.
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Healthcare facts
When it comes to healthcare, there ARE some facts we can agree on:
Our current system was during World War II and doesn’t match the current global economy:
- Large businesses can’t afford to provide insurance and stay competitive.
- Small businesses can’t afford to provide insurance and stay in business.
- Taxpayers unnecessarily pay more and more each year to cover the emergencies of the uninsured in a system where risk isn’t shared.
- The government can’t afford the billions of dollars that it is spending on healthcare through lost tax revenue because the money that employers spend on health insurance premiums is not taxed.
The healthcare system and you
- In our culture, women are often expected to be the health care givers. What is your personal experience with healthcare?
- Many women end up caring for their parents and their children at the same time. Who in your family do you care for?
- A record 46.6 million Americans had no health insurance in 2005 with 1 in 6 Americans uninsured for some or part of the year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Do you and your family have health insurance?
What health care improvements would help you with your situation? Tell it like it is on our Blog. And tell your representatives what you need! Look up your representatives and their committees - RIGHT HERE:
Measuring healthcare: some useful criteria
There are four factors to good health care:
- Access (Can you get a doctor or nurse when you need one?)
- Quality (Are highly qualified practitioners available? How do you judge?)
- Choice (Do you get to select your preferred doctor, hospital or medicine?)
- Cost (Can you afford the care you need?)
What happens when cost becomes the focus of the health care debate? Are access, quality, and choices compromised? Do we have to sacrifice quality for equality?
When it comes to designing a new system, legislators must weigh questions like these, taking into account their underlying philosophy about the relationship between government, which is all of us, and individual citizens, who differ in health, responsibility, and ability to pay. Each of us has to weigh the same trade-offs when we decide which approach to support.
Policy options: weighing trade-offs
Take a look at the different ideas that leaders in Congress have about how to improve the health care system to get an idea of which approach YOU support:
- President Bush would add payments for prevention, emphasizing individual responsibility, and pay for it by lowering Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals. This plan is based on COST and ACCESS.
- The "Health Partnership Act," sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) would provide federal funding for state initiatives to expand health care coverage to the uninsured. The plan focuses on CHOICE and ACCESS.
- The "U.S. National Health Insurance Act"/"Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Bill," introduced in the House by John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan) and supported by 55 cosponsors, would cover every American, through a system in which care will be privately delivered, but publicly-financed. Saving money by reducing paperwork and insurance costs by using the already existing Medicare program but expanding and improving it to all U.S. residents. This plan focuses on COST and ACCESS.
- The "Healthy Americans Act," introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) would require that each American is covered by one of several high-quality, private health plans that are comparable to what members of Congress enjoy now. Employers would be required to gradually raise employees' pay to help them buy private insurance during the transition. State-based Health Help Agencies (HHAs) would provide unbiased information about the state’s competing private health plans - encouraging individuals to make their own health care decisions. This plan focuses on QUALITY, ACCESS, and CHOICE.
About WomenMatter
WomenMatter is a place to discuss life issues with other women. We don’t want to wedge women apart, but rather bring them together to dialogue.
WomenMatter is the place where we can take one issue at a time, match what we do about it every day of our lives to the facts of the bigger system that we all live in and recognize that every idea for making it better has tradeoffs.
WomenMatter is dedicated to engaging women in the political process. To do this we have invested in the most in-depth NONPARTISAN information, because we trust each woman to make up her own mind.
- We track nine issues every week and update this website several times a week.
- We do continuous research to make sure that we are meeting the needs of women across the country of all ages, races, incomes, preferences, and religions.
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Posted on: 2/28/2007
