Posted By LINDSEY CLARK, Clinton School student – President Bush’s veto of a $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has brought into question the partisan politics that has become the norm in Washington. The President feels the spending increase is a ploy by the Democrats to take a step toward “their goal of government-run health care for every American.”
In reality, 70 percent of Americans support SCHIP, which provides coverage to roughly 6.9 million children who are ineligible for Medicaid. Supporters also include many Republicans and private health insurance lobbyists. Yet the veto and its politicizing nature point to an underlying issue that those in Washington have failed to realize: the entire health care system is out of date and is need of an overhaul.
In the wake of WWII, manufacturing and large businesses took off. In the 1960s, many Americans were employed in large auto manufactures. These large companies had a large group of employees, enabling them to spread the risk around. If someone employed at General Motors had a heart attack, the large group insured would cover the cost, keeping health insurance premiums low. One heart attack would not bankrupt the company. Today, the auto industry and large businesses in general are no longer prominent. The majority of Americans are now employed in small businesses where there are fewer individuals to spread the risk around. As a result, health coverage has become limited. That heart attack now has the potential to bankrupt a small business. Americans today are also changing careers frequently, encountering numerous providers with different benefits packages along the way.
Many states, including Arkansas, have begun to reform their health care policy to cover those unable to afford insurance. Arkansas’s ARHealth Net has been established to provide health insurance to those in small businesses with low-income workers. The plan is available to qualified small businesses of two to 500 workers.
Like ARHealth Net, Tennessee’s CoverTN is designed to help those in small businesses afford health insurance.. Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen remarked, “We don’t have it in our power to provide health insurance to everyone without limits. But we can offer access to health insurance to those who want it. It’s a reasonable first step.”
These programs demonstrate that we can make progress in reforming the health care system, but this reform that will require states and the federal government to work together. Democrats and Republicans must put their differences aside and realize that no one solution will be perfect, but the health care issue presents an opportunity for a collaboration among political parties that has been lacking in Washington.
Lindsey Clark is a first-year student at the Clinton School, working toward her Master of Public Service Degree. This column represents her personal views.