The Missing Health Reform Rx: Personal Responsibility
There's something missing, argues legal reform advocate and Public Agenda board member Philip K. Howard, when it comes to the current effort at health care reform. Speaking at our Maxwell School/Public Agenda Policy Breakfast, and again in an op ed piece for the New York Daily News, Howard argues that the only way America can afford universal care is to focus public resources by containing costs. Howard has some experience in innovations to reduce one of those costs, as founder of Common Good, a legal reform coalition which is involved in a test of arbitration-based health courts to replace the current malpractice system.
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There is a huge gap in health insurance availability and affordability for US citizens between the ages of 60-65! Trying to navigate through this quagmire is a nightmare for a 62 year old woman who has always been insured by her employer and is a proactive, healthy senior. I have learned, through the last 6 months of mental anguish and time consuming calls, that I am not alone in this regard. HIPAA is obviously an option - and, a very expensive option! Appealing is an option - and consumes the precious tme of our physicians (if they cooperate) and takes them away from what they should be doing - helping us to stay active and healthy! I have become aware of the NUMEROUS paid "health consultants" whose goal is to get the most money out of retired folks living on fixed incomes that they can get. And, I have become aware of health insurance companies (the biggest) who do not care if you have been proactive and healthy. They want to make sure you are paying through the nose in a reactive mode. It is a travesty in our country, a demoralizing statement to those of us who have worked hard our entire lives, and a tremendous disappointment to those of us in our senior years who have always counted on our own success to allow us some sense of comfort in our retirement years. I, personally, think all citizens between 60-65 should join together and do a class action suit against all of the major health insurance companies to wake them up. And, this is a person who has never supported legal action to create change.
I think that there should be some type of availability from medicare for dependents that have not reached the age of 65 but who have to rely upon cobra from their spouses insurance to have insurance. The cobra cost as much as buying a sandy land farm and then it is just a 80-20 plan. They should be able to buy into medicare
and pay what the senators and representives have to pay? That would help Americans get on with our lives and not depend on all our savings to pay for insurance!!
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