Nothing better symbolizes the corruption of the debate about healthcare reform than the rhetoric about “government-run” healthcare. Or, for that matter, the related argument that we need a “uniquely American” solution which precludes a public system like Medicare for all.
Two reports that notably received scant coverage from either the media or even those advocating the public plan “option” in Congress, reveal the seldom told truth.
Medicare is a “uniquely American” solution, and it works.
As we approach the 44th birthday of Medicare July 30th, nurses, doctors, and healthcare activists will gather in Washington to celebrate its successes and lobby to extend them by expanding Medicare to cover everyone.
The rally, sponsored by the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare, is July 30, at 1 p.m. at Upper Senate Park across from Congress. Check here for more details:
Recent surveys, from the journal Health Affairs and from the Department of Health and Human Services, offer reminders of Medicare’s success.
In a May study reported in Health Affairs, Commonwealth Fund leaders found that:
compared to people with private insurance, Medicare enrollees have greater access to care, fewer problems with medical bills, and greater satisfaction with their health plans and the quality of care they receive.
Those findings are especially significant, the report notes, considering that Medicare patients are in the very demographic that has the highest likelihood of poor health, and also tend to have lower incomes.
Yet, only 15 percent of Medicare beneficiaries reported such problems as not being able to pay a medical bill or being hounded by a collection agency, compared to 26 percent of non-Medicare enrollees who have employer-paid health plans.
And, 61 percent of those on Medicare reported they received “excellent or very good quality of care” in the past year compared to less than half those with private insurance.
One of the biggest misleading attacks on Medicare by the anti-government crowd is that it restricts “choice.” But the study found that
Only 10 percent of Medicare beneficiaries said their physician would not take their insurance compared to 17 percent of those with employer coverage.
Perhaps, most important,
“elderly Medicare beneficiaries were also significantly more likely to report being very confident that they could get high quality and safe medical care when needed, and very confident that they would be able to afford the care they need.”
Shouldn’t that be the goal of healthcare reform? Rather than forcing everyone to buy private health insurance they might not be able to afford, expanding the private insurance system that has repeatedly failed American patients. And thanks to Bill Moyers and former Cigna executive Wendell Potter for reminding us that Michael Moore had it right about the insurance industry in SiCKO.
There’s more. A HHS commissioned survey in June, also cited substantially higher satisfaction among Medicare or even Medicaid patients than among those with private insurance. It found:
56 percent of enrollees in traditional fee-for-service Medicare give Medicare a rating of 9 or 10 on a 0-10 scale. But according to the survey only 40 percent of Americans enrolled in private health insurance gave their plans a 9 or 10 rating.
Moreover, as the National Journal noted:
“The higher scores for Medicare are based on perceptions of better access to care. More than two thirds (70 percent) of traditional Medicare enrollees say they ‘always’ get access to needed care (appointments with specialists or other necessary tests and treatment), compared with 63 percent in Medicare managed care plans and only 51 percent of those with private insurance.”
Yet to listen to the talk shows or to follow the debate, you’d think the public is horrified by a public plan that guarantees access to care and choice of provider to everyone.
The Commonwealth Fund analysts, like the National Journal, conclude that these findings made a case for the public option.
“The choice of a Medicare-sponsored public plan with benefits similar to private employer or federal employee plans would build on Medicare’s wide provider network and experience in making accessible care available to enrollees at lower cost.”
Those who fail to challenge head on the attacks on “government-run” healthcare or dismiss proposals for single payer because we need a “uniquely American” plan undermine their own campaign for the public “option”.
And, they devalue the tremendous and proud achievement we have made with our “uniquely American,” made in America health care plan, Medicare.
Nurses have a better idea. Why go half-way and risk the danger or likelihood of insurance company and conservative sabotage of the public plan? If Medicare is a better option, let’s extend it to everyone. That proposal is known as single-payer, and we know it is a unique American program with a history of success.