I received the following e-mail from the White House, I guess I am on the A list although if Ms DeParle read this blog I may be on the Chicago hit list.
Here is the bottom line, we all want to reform the health care system in American, it is wasteful, hurtful to people and does not meet all of our needs, and oh yes, it is expensive. Much can be done to lower costs, like figure out a way to have a uniform efficient claim system for the entire country and like finding a way so that 700,000 physicians don’t have their own billing systems and related costs. Think of it this way, those of us in the Northeast complain about property taxes except we all want each of our towns to have its own school systems, board of education, superintendent of schools when the truth is that is inefficient and we cannot afford it.
The current proposals in Congress will NOT “get it done” as the new buzz words say. Those proposals do not address the basic issues and at the same time set in place changes that will be increase spending for all Americans. So yes, let’s get it done, but done right. Contrary to political rhetoric it can be done in steps addressing each fundamental aspect of the problem as we better understand and explain it and it will take no more time to implement that the current proposals.
The fact is that few Americans, most politicians included, do not understand what they are getting with these proposals. Unfortunately, as in this e-mail, Americans are being deceived by the constant and erroneous attack on insurance companies as the cause of high health care costs.
Good afternoon,
$1,115 — that’s the average monthly premium for employer-sponsored family coverage in 2009. Annually, that amounts to $13,375, or roughly the yearly income of someone working a minimum wage job.1
It gets worse: a recent survey found that if we do nothing, over the next ten years, out-of-pocket expenses for Americans with health insurance could increase 35 percent in every state in the country.2
In an effort to put the past year’s debate over health insurance reform into perspective, we’re launching “Health Reform by the Numbers,” an online campaign using key figures, like $1,115, to raise awareness about why we can’t wait any longer for reform. We’ll be sending out a new number every day. Learn what you can do to help spread the word:
$1,115 is more money than what many Americans pay for rent or mortgage. But there’s more to the problem than just numbers.
Take Leslie Banks, an American mom with a daughter in college. In January of this year, she received a notice from her health insurance provider that her plan was being dropped. To keep the same benefits, the premiums for her and her daughter would more than double. Leslie was told by the insurance company that there was nothing she could do — it was an across-the-board premium hike. If she paid the same monthly premium amount as before, the deductible would increase from $500 to $5,000, and she and her daughter would no longer have preventive care or prescription coverage.
Yesterday, Leslie introduced President Obama at a health reform event in Pennsylvania. Check out what they had to say.
It’s important to raise awareness about numbers like $1,115 and stories like Leslie’s because skyrocketing health care costs impact all of us. So take a moment to forward this email to your family, friends and online networks.
With all of us working together, we’ll send the message loud and clear — the time is now for health insurance reform. It’s time we made our health care system work for American families and small businesses, not just insurance companies.
Nancy-Ann DeParle
Director, White House Office of Health Reform1 Kaiser Family Foundation, Employer Health Benefits 2009 Annual Survey.
2 Bowen Garrett, John Holahan, Lan Doan, and Irene Headen for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute, The Cost of Failure to Enact Health Reform: Implications for Statesblogsurfer.us
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