8 Myths About Health Care Reform
By KAREN CHENEY And why we can’t afford to believe them anymore
Americans spend more on health care every year than we do
educating our children, building roads, even feeding ourselves—
an estimated $2.6 trillion in 2009, or around $8,300 per person.
Forty-five million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever. These staggering figures are at the heart of the current debate
over health care reform: the need to control costs while providing
coverage for all. As John Lumpkin, M.D., M.P.H., director of the
Health Care Group for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
says, “There is enough evidence that it is now time to do something and to do the right thing.” The key is to focus on the facts—
and to dispel, once and for all, the myths that block our progress.
“Health reform won’t benefit people like me, who have
insurance.” Just because you
have health insurance today doesn’t
mean you’ll have it tomorrow. According to the National Coalition
on Healthcare, nearly 266,000 companies dropped their employees’
health care coverage from 2000
to 2005. “People with insurance
have a tremendous stake, because
their insurance is at risk,” says Judy
Feder, a professor of public policy at
Georgetown University and a senior
fellow at the Center for American
Progress, a Washington, D.C.–based
think tank. What’s more, in recent
years the average employee health
insurance premium rose nearly eight
times faster than income. “
Everyone is paying for health increases
in some way, and it’s unsustainable
for everyone,” says Stephanie Cath-cart, spokesperson for the National
Federation of Independent Business
(NFIB). “Reform will benefit everyone as long as it addresses costs.”
“The boomers will bankrupt
Medicare.” If you’re looking
to blame the rise in health
care costs on an aging population,
you’ll have to look elsewhere. The
growing ranks of the elderly are projected to account for just 0.4 percent
of the future growth in health care
costs, says Paul Ginsburg, president
of the Center for Studying Health
System Change. So why are health
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Help ensure that all Americans have affordable health care choices. Go to HealthActionNow.org to tell Congress to lower soaring health
care costs.
