Obama and the Current State Of Health Care
Seattle – Contrary to what some health care industry experts are saying the current state of uninsured Americans is continuing to rise at an alarming pace. The situation is made even more dire as the severity of the current recession causes businesses cut back on what they will cover for employees forcing either a lapse in coverage or no health care coverage at all. According to the Center for American Progress the number of uninsured Americans has risen by 4 million since the recession began back in December 2007. As the recession continues to become longer and deeper this number is expected only to increase. Combine this with the fact that health care costs have been rising at an astronomical rate and it is clear why the number of uninsured people continue to rise every year. Forced to deal with either making ends meet or not having access to quality health care working class Americans have to make tough decisions every day.
To combat this problem there has been a number of potential initiatives discussed by the President and members of Congress. One plan, which has been under consideration since last fall involves a consensus of insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and consumers. Under the proposed plan this group would support legislation that would require that every American have health insurance. This is a major step forward from the position that they took back in 1993 when Hillary Clinton was pushing for universal health care coverage.
To deal with this growing problem many states are now proposing universal health care coverage for its citizens. Most recently in Nebraska there is a major push from both inside and outside the health care industry to impose major reforms before the problem spirals out of control. As Jane Kleeb of the Service Employees International Union said, “The longer we wait, the worse it gets.” In Connecticut there is also growing consensus for universal health coverage for all regardless of health problems or pre existing conditions. What these two examples show is that clearly the system is broken and needs to be fixed. If Washington will not do the job then states will create their own form of universal coverage.
As President Obama works on plan to provide affordable, universal health care coverage for all Americans. It is clear, that something must me done to stop the rising number of uninsured and contain the spiraling costs. A major shift is taking place not only on the state level but also among the health care industry itself. It is only a matter of time until universal coverage becomes a reality one way or another.