Comparing health reform now and then

Written by Fred Musante
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 14:26

National health insurance reform is back in the news, as it was in 1993 and 1994 when President Bill Clinton made it a priority. Let’s compare then and now.

Back then, opponents of health care reform said, “If you like the post office, you’ll love national health care.”

Now, they’re saying it again. “I’m opposed to the government option, period,” said House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner at his weekly press conference June 11. “If you like going to the DMV, and you think they do a great job, or if you like going to the post office and think it’s the most efficient thing you’ve run into, then you’ll love the government-run health care system, because that’s basically what you’re going to have.”

Health reform opponents must have thought that quip was pretty cute 15 years ago to resurrect it this year. But those 15 years have proved how false it is.

For 44 cents, the U.S. Postal Service will pick up a letter at your house and deliver it within a week to someone you know in the boondocks of Idaho. If you like that, show me your private health insurance that pays for a doctor to come to your house.

In 1994, a first-class stamp for your letter to that friend in Idaho would cost you 29 cents. The price has gone up 50% in the last 15 years.

The price of health insurance, however, has tripled or more since then. According to the National Coalition on Health Care, employer health insurance premiums increased 5% in 2008, twice the rate of inflation. For small employers, the increase was 5.5%.

Wait a minute, holler Republicans and insurance company executives. We’re comparing apples and oranges. Today’s health insurance coverage is completely different from the coverage then, full of mandates imposed by state Legislatures.

Actually, the biggest difference is the co-payments, deductibles and the share of the premium paid by the employee, all of which are much bigger than they were 15 years ago.

Before I’m accused of picking on Republicans, let’s be clear — Republicans began criticizing the Democrats’ health reform proposal this month even though the Democrats haven’t proposed anything yet. The GOP wants to be known for what it’s against.

Republicans say they will propose reform legislation, too. They are working closely with the big health insurance companies on it.

Remember Harry and Louise? A pair of actors, Harry Johnson and Louise Caire Clark, appeared in political ads for the big health insurance corporations in 1994 spewing lies that helped kill the Clinton health insurance reforms before they were out of the box.

The Health Insurance Association of America, an industry organization, paid for those ads with money from your and my health insurance premiums.

On behalf of the big insurers and their buddies at the Republican National Committee, Harry and Louise warned that the health care reform that the committee Hillary Clinton headed would mean that government bureaucrats would make our health care decisions, even though Hillary’s committee hadn’t yet proposed anything.

They won, so instead of government bureaucrats, insurance company bureaucrats make our health care decisions. Yet, opponents are repeating the same attack today.

Another danger health reform opponents warned against in 1994 was that the government would force us to wait in line for medical operations, as they claim is true of government health insurance programs in Canada and Western Europe.

They also say government health insurance would cost much, much more than private American insurance, which they characterize as the best health care in the world.

All of this is a bunch of bald-face lies.

Canada and Western Europe have great government health insurance systems that cover just about anything that is wrong with you. Their doctors still make house calls. In some countries, their citizens never see a bill. There are no deductibles and co-pays and premium shares that go up and up.

They have to wait longer than the average person in the U.S. does to schedule some operations, but those operations are for chronic conditions, like knee replacement surgery, not life-saving treatment.

Also, Medicare pays for most knee replacement operations in the U.S., not private health insurance policies. So the critics have compared two government insurance programs, not private vs. government, and they have found the government insurance in the U.S. to be better.

That’s a good argument in favor of a government plan if you ask me.

Everybody is covered in Canada and Western Europe, but 46 million Americans have no coverage.

As for the cost, the National Coalition on Health Care (nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml) says health care spending accounts for 10.9% of the gross domestic product in Switzerland, 10.7% in Germany, 9.7% in Canada and 9.5% in France. Americans spent 17% of GDP in 2008, and it’s projected to go up to 20% in 2017.

So there’s a lot to compare from 1994 and 2009 for the health care issue as Congress and President Obama prepare to debate it.

Even Harry and Louise are back. Last August they appeared in a new ad broadcast during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. This time they pleaded making health care reform a priority. And this time health advocacy groups, hospital industry associations and the National Federation of Independent Business paid for them.