News flash: Republican
congressional leaders have come up with yet another grand scheme to fix
America’s health care system. So, look out – because when they say
“fix,” they mean it in the same sense as your veterinarian uses the
word.
For the
gazillionth time, GOP lawmakers have put a shiny new ribbon on their
same old ugly package of health insurance deforms. As before, this
latest plan would eliminate coverage for millions of Americans, raise
the price of insurance for the middle class and deliver much less care.
But one guy says he loves it: “A great bill,” tweeted Donald Trump.
I’m
guessing that, once again, our Twittererin-Chief hasn’t actually read
the bill he is praising, or even scanned the factual summary of what it
does. But, he might want to hear the opinions of his fellow corporate
chieftains who have read every word of it. For example, the CEO of Blue
Cross Blue Shield flatly rejects the rewrite, because it “would allow
states to waive key consumer protections [and] undermine safeguards for
those with pre-existing conditions.” Also, he points out that the plan
would increase uncertainty in the marketplace, making coverage more
expensive and jeopardizing Americans’ choice of health plans.
Or
Trump could ponder this conclusion of a health policy expert: The bill
is “just basically injecting chaos in 50 state capitals for the next two
years.” Or maybe he’d value a state health executive’s perspective:
“The [bill’s] cuts could be devastating to [Alaska’s] health care
system,” and “patients will bear the consequences through reduced access
to health care and lost insurance coverage.”
Trump
and the GOP are wasting Congress’ time and what little public
credibility they have left by continuing to play partisan politics with
people’s health. Nothing great about that.
Rather
than a health care system, our country’s leaders have been keeping us
shackled to a “corporate care” system, allowing insurance giants, drug
company gougers, hospital chains and other profiteers to ration our care
based on whether a family can pay whatever outrageous price the
corporations demand to maintain their exorbitant profits.
Forget
the centuries-old admonition from the Greek physician Hippocrates that
individual caregivers must “do no harm,” the corporate imperative to
maximize profits makes our present system itself a gross violator of
that primary principal. For example, Americans spend some $3.2 trillion a
year on this system (more than nearly every other country in the
world); 28 million of our people have no health coverage; tens of
millions are so underinsured they can’t afford to use the policy they’re
paying for; one out of five adults are not able to afford the
prescription drugs they need; our people are less healthy than other
advanced nations (for example, the U.S.
ranks 42nd in life expectancy); and CEOs and top shareholders of
insurance conglomerates, Big Pharma, hospital chains and other
components of the system are hauling off multiple-millions of dollars
each.
Can’t we do
better than that? Of course we can – if we start treating health care as
a human right, rather than a corporate profit center.
And
doing this doesn’t require a whole new complex system. Congress can
just extend America’s successful Medicare program to every man, woman
and child in our country. This egalitarian “Medicare for All” idea would
deliver comprehensive care, be much easier for patients to navigate,
and be far cheaper than today’s rip-off system. At last, a hospital stay
would not bankrupt a family, people wouldn’t avoid going to the doctor
because they can’t afford it, prescription drugs would be affordable,
and workers wouldn’t be stuck in bad jobs just to get basic health
coverage.
This is a
health care system that’s worthy of us, one that embodies our people’s
egalitarian values and strengthens our country. By actually delivering
universal care we will unite our society under the essential democratic
principle that we Americans really are “all in this together.”
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, columnist and author.