Jocelyn Bucaro: Why we cannot wait for health care reform

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1:47 PM Friday, August 14, 2009

I have a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer and has been laid off from her job. She is now ineligible for health insurance and will only be able to hang on to her COBRA coverage for another few months.

COBRA doesn’t cover her cancer treatment, so she has to pay $3,000 out of pocket for her chemotherapy each month. The cost is simply too much, especially considering she has lost her job and now can’t work, and she’s headed toward bankruptcy at the least and not receiving treatment at the worst. She can’t wait any longer for health care reform.

Another woman I’ve met recently has a similar problem. She has a genetic predisposition to develop cancer. Many of her family members have been killed by the disease. She’d like to have her kids tested for the gene, but she’s afraid they’ll be labeled as having a precondition and won’t be able to get coverage.

If she has them tested, she’ll be able to help them take adequate precautions to avoid developing cancer, but they may not have health coverage. If she doesn’t have them tested, she may not be able to help them prevent a life-threatening illness. She, too, cannot wait any longer for health care reform.

During a recent town hall meeting held by a Democratic member of Congress, many protesters expressed their fears of health care reform. One of the protesters asked why the 80 percent of Americans with coverage needed to change anything to suit the 20 percent who do not have coverage. I suspect this is a common concern among the many who are fearful of what reform will mean to them.

The question struck me for several reasons. First, it is misleading. The current health care reform, including the versions with a public, government-funded plan to compete with private insurers, would not cause any fundamental changes in the current system. If you have insurance, you will be able to keep it. You may even see your premiums go down in price because the insurers will have to compete with a cheaper, government plan. That is one of the goals of having a government option — to keep the costs lower for everyone.

Second, it was upsetting to me as a Christian. The woman who posed the question seemed to imply that those with insurance should not be forced to help those without insurance. My favorite biblical passage comes from Matthew 25, which calls on all people to show the same care and respect of fellow human beings that they might show to Jesus himself. If someone is hungry, we should feed them; if someone is sick, we should care for them. Yet, this woman seemed to feel that those who are sick and without insurance coverage were not her concern.

The second goal of a public option in health care reform is to provide an inexpensive policy for all those who currently do not have insurance. Not only was the woman at the town hall insensitive to her fellow Americans who struggle every day with illness and how to pay for treatment; but she also missed an important fact:

We all are paying for the uninsured because they cause all of our costs to go up. They resort to the most expensive care in emergency rooms, and doctors and hospitals cover the costs of that “free” care by raising the costs on the rest of us.

Health care reform will likely be one of the most important policy changes of our lifetime. And the consequent fear, suspicion, confusion and frustration over the debates in Washington is a natural and expected reaction among we ordinary Americans.

Yet the vehement opposition that is being stirred by conservative commentators is drowning out the real issue: Far too many of our friends, neighbors and fellow citizens are desperate and cannot wait another day for reform. They need and deserve access to the care and coverage that so many of the rest of us take for granted.

Jocelyn Bucaro of Liberty Twp. is a president of the Change Butler political action committee and a former Clinton White House staffer.

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