U.S. Residents Face Risks Regardless Of Health Insurance Status, Opinion Piece States

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 31 Aug 2007 - 20:00 PST

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About 45 million U.S. residents lack health insurance, but the "rest of us with health coverage are also uninsured" because those with coverage face "terrible, albeit more remote, health care risks," columnist Laurence Kotlikoff writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece. According to Kotlikoff, residents with health insurance face the "risk that our employer will drop our plan, that Medicare will go bust, that our plan won't cover our needs, that premiums will eat us alive, that our doctor will stop taking our insurance, that long-term care will wipe us out and that our uninsured friends and family members will need major financial help." Kotlikoff illustrates the issue using a recent speech by former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who noted that her grandchild has a pre-existing condition, preventing her son from obtaining insurance for him.

However, he writes, the "risks are entirely avoidable" because the U.S. could "have an efficient, transparent system that includes everyone" at current health care spending levels. Kotlikoff adds, "But we can't get there via the piecemeal reforms that President Bush, most of his would-be successors and our state governors are advocating," such as expanded use of health savings accounts and tax deductions for the purchase of health insurance.

He recommends that the U.S. implement a Medical Security System, under which the "government would give everyone a voucher each year for a basic health plan," with the amount of the voucher "based on one's health status," and health insurers could not "refuse a voucher or otherwise deny coverage." Kotlikoff writes, "This is not a French, British or Canadian solution. It's an American, market-based solution that Republicans should love. It's also a progressive solution that Democrats should love" (Kotlikoff, Boston Globe, 8/28).

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