Opinion Pieces Discuss Richardson's State, National Health Care Reform Proposals

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 22 Nov 2007 - 10:00 PDT

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The Santa Fe New Mexican on Saturday featured opinion pieces on presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's (D) national and state health care reform proposals. Summaries appear below.

• Laurence Jacobs, New Mexican: Richardson is "dead wrong when he insists on preserving a role for the private insurance industry in health care; that industry is the problem, not the solution," Jacobs, a professor emeritus of medicine and member of Physicians for a National Health Program, writes in a New Mexican opinion piece. Jacobs says, "Our system is failing because it's based on a private insurance model, in which the main objective is not the provision of health care but the making of profit." He continues, "This 'industry' perversely increases its operating margins when it denies care," adding, "What other business makes more money when it provides less product?" Jacobs adds, "We are the only industrialized country on the face of the Earth that doesn't provide comprehensive health insurance for all its citizens, and this is a disgrace" (Jacobs, Santa Fe New Mexican, 11/17).
  
  
• Alfredo Vigil, New Mexican: Richardson's Health Solutions New Mexico plan "represents substantial change and major challenges" and means "increased access, better affordability and more accountability," Vigil, cabinet secretary for the state Department of Health, writes in a New Mexican opinion piece (Vigil, Santa Fe New Mexican, 11/17). Under Richardson's proposal, the state would phase in a requirement that people obtain private health coverage, enroll in a state-subsidized program or provide documentation showing they have sufficient financial resources to afford health care expenses out of pocket (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/30). Vigil writes that it is "unacceptable and unethical" for state residents to be uninsured because the "health care system and infrastructure that care for uninsured patients when they do seek care is substantially weaker and more fragile" because medical personnel "can't get compensated for their work." He concludes, "I believe Gov. Richardson's Health Solutions New Mexico plan offers the best opportunity to end this crisis and move toward health care and coverage for every New Mexican" (Vigil, Santa Fe New Mexican, 11/17).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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