Congressional Activity
There are currently several bills under discussion in Congress. Each bill takes
a different approach to reducing health insurance costs across the board and covering
the nearly 50 million people uninsured in our country. Many compromises will be
necessary to reconcile these various plans and move towards a consensus on health
care reform. After the House and Senate have hammered out the details of these bills,
they will need to reach consensus on a final bill that will be sent on to President
Obama.
Key areas of debate include:
- Whether the government should provide a ‘public option’ in which the government
administers a health plan, possibly using Medicare as a model but open to everyone
(see sidebar for more information);
- The role and requirements that should be placed on employers to provide insurance
for employees;
- How to require individuals to carry insurance;
- Whether to create a new insurance ‘marketplace’ or ‘exchange’ so that consumers
can more easily compare costs and benefits of different insurance plans;
- If Medicaid can be expanded to cover more individuals;
- Possible government mandated requirements for insurance which would include offering
plans with specific benefits (for example, a set of core benefits that all insurers
must offer) and possibly eliminating insurers’ ability to deny coverage for pre-existing
conditions;
- The role of evidence based practice, prevention, and public health in ensuring healthier
populations. These issues are somewhat less controversial as the Senate, House,
and president’s proposed plans include each of these elements to some extent; and
- How to pay for it, who should pay, and how much it will all cost.
WSNA Support for a Public Option
WSNA has consistently supported and advocated for a system that guarantees every
single person in this country has access to quality care in a timely fashion by
the most appropriate health care provider at an affordable cost. WSNA believes that
a plan with a ‘public option’ will give us the best opportunity to meet the health
care needs of this country. A public option will compete with private insurers to
create a more competitive insurance marketplace and drive down costs. A public option
would be open to any individual, increasing coverage for those with pre-existing
conditions or other factors that make it difficult to receive private insurance.
A Public Option
Sometimes called the public option, public plan or public insurance option, the
debate over whether to include a public option in a new health care system has become
one of the most heated topics in the current battle over reform.
If created, a public option could take many different forms, but it will essentially
be a health insurance plan provided by the federal government that would be open
to individual citizens and would compete with private insurance companies. We must
have a strong public plan with the following features to have an impact on health
care in this country:
- National and available everywhere: A strong public health insurance option will
be a national public health insurance program, available in all areas of the country.
In order to have the clout to compete with an insurance industry made of conglomerates
with national reach, the public health insurance option must be national as well.
- Government appointed and accountable: The entire problem with private health insurance
is that they aren't accountable to you or me. Decision makers for a public plan
should be appointed by government and accountable to the public.
- Bargaining clout: The whole point of health reform is to lower health care costs.
Clearly, the insurance industry has failed to lower costs when left to their own
devices. As the President says, we need a strong public health insurance option
to lower rates, change the incentives in our health care system, and keep the industry
honest.
- Ready on day one: With one person going bankrupt every 30 seconds due to health
care costs, we cannot afford to wait any longer for a real fix. We need the public
health insurance option to start lowering prices now.
A public option is included in President Obama’s health care plan and some of the
bills currently being debated and refined in Congress. Under these plans, businesses
and families would have the choice of keeping the insurance that they have or a
public health insurance plan. The public option would compete with private insurers,
increase the competition in the insurance marketplace, lower costs and keep the
insurance industry honest.
There is strong support for the choice of a public health insurance plan. Polling
shows that at least 72 percent of people want the choice a public health insurance
plan, with the majority of people in both parties favoring such a solution. Small
businesses, community organizations, health care providers, and labor unions support
a public option.
WSNA Core Beliefs on Health Care Reform
WSNA and the American Nurses Association (ANA) are proud to support the goal of
quality, affordable health care for everyone in 2009. As frontline health care providers,
registered nurses are acutely aware of the consequences when people do not have
access or cannot afford quality health care. Several core beliefs guide our work
on health care reform:
- Providing timely and appropriate preventative care will always be our best and most
cost effective health care solution. People must have access to primary care, public
health services and regular, preventive medical services so they are not forced
to wait until their health is in serious jeopardy and the cost of care increases
exponentially.
- For any health care delivery to be effective, fair and affordable there must be
an adequate supply of well-educated, well-distributed, and well-utilized registered
nurses. We must increase the supply of RNs in order to meet the health care needs
of the U.S. population. WSNA has been addressing the nursing shortage through a
comprehensive effort that encompasses both recruitment and retention of nurses.
We will continue to work on this issue and work to educate our elected officials
about the critical role of RNs and ARNPs in our health care system. This includes
working with our Congressional delegation to include nurses in efforts to increase
the primary care workforce.
- We cannot afford to wait for meaningful health care reform. Investing now in quality
care for all ensures that we will emerge from this downturn with a healthy and vibrant
workforce ready to take on the challenge of rebuilding our country’s economy. We
must act now and seize the energy and momentum for change.
