Health Care for Americans: A 100 year struggle

Dating back to Republican President Theodore Roosevelt (1904) he and every president since has toyed with some kind of a health care plan, but none have had the appetite to place their political careers on the line for it with the exception of President Barrack Obama.

Previously, the closest Americans ever came to having a health care plan occurred when President Bill Clinton appointed his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton in January, 1993 to head up a task force for health care reform. Mrs. Clinton was a huge believer in health care reform and worked very diligently on the project but ceased when then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D. ME) informed her and the President that any further efforts towards her plan could not possibly make it through Congress.

President Barrack Obama so believed in health care reform hat he made it the cornerstone of his bid for the presidency. This was a very gutsy move as politically it was a real hot potato. It has caused more controversy than any other issue with the exception of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

As a senior advocate for the last 60 years, my own ardent support of the Act comes from the fact that it includes many very important provisions that have already been in effect and will continue to help seniors who struggle with the high cost of prescription drugs. Under the Act seniors receive their prescriptions at a discount (called closing the donut hole). There are free check-ups and much more that saves seniors costs they can ill afford.

Now we must wait and see what Nevada is going to do about participating in the expanded Medicaid program. As I understand it, as of now there are 12 governors who will participate while 7, all Republicans, will not.
In a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities these are some of the reasons why Medicaid expansion is good for states:

• The federal government will bear nearly 93 percent of the cost of covering those newly eligible for Medicaid from 2014-2022. This is a 2.8 percent increase over what states would have spent on Medicaid without health reform, according to CBO.
• The 2.8 percent figure overstates the impact on state costs. That is because state and local costs for providing care to the uninsured – in the form of hospital care and mental health services, for example-will almost certainly go down.
• Some studies cited by critics of health reform use problematic assumptions that vastly overstate the cost of the Medicaid expansion.

For the full report go to http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3801

I hope Nevada will pay attention to the benefits of participating in the expanded Medicaid, as not doing so would save the State very little compared to losing millions of federal dollars, and leaving thousands of Nevadans without insurance.

In 2010 the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services did project how much the Affordable Care Act would cost the State. $574 million from 2014 to 2019 and they said that most of that cost would have to be incurred regardless of whether Medicaid is expanded or not.

The Republican House has just voted to repeal the Act; however, I believe that is just posturing as it would be most unlikely to pass the Senate and they know it! This attempt by the House is costing taxpayers millions of dollars that we don’t have.

This is curious, since it was Republican Mitt Romney who came up with such a plan when he was governor of Massachusetts and before President Obama showcased his plan for the country. Obama fashioned his plan after Romney’s, right to the penalties for noncompliance. Republicans loved it for Massachusetts but it’s bad now for the rest of America?

Let’s give this Act a chance to work, and if it needs adjustments then make them. But it has taken one hundred years to come this far, so let’s not waste this opportunity to give millions of uninsured Americans some peace of mind and not have to worry about medical bankruptcy or getting kids with pre-existing health problems insurance. For once let’s put Americans first and political party agendas second. Let’s move on to more pressing problems like the economy.

Janice R. Ayres
Senior Advocate