LWV health care forum

Dear Editor:

We were pleased that the League of Women Voters sponsored a discussion on Health Care Reform last Saturday, but deeply disappointed with the limited perspectives reflected on the panel. Moderator Fred Lynch of CMC provided a useful sketch of the history of American health care from the "birth of the blues" (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) in the 30’s through the establishment of job related health insurance—a wartime gimmick used by industries to attract workers at a time when wages were frozen—to the birth of what Arnold Relman calls the “commercialization" of American health care since 1945.

Professor Lynch suggested that this ad hoc development of health care had brought us, not a "system," but a "mess." Other panel members elaborated on that theme. For example, Barbara Decker of the Edison Co. indicated that its bill for health care had gone up 300 percent since 1995, and was headed for another doubling in not so distant future—not a sustainable path. But when it came to containing costs, the recommendations were anemic.

Dr. Patrick Wade thought much of the answer lay in malpractice reform but praised the system in California, just where Ms. Decker's Edison Co. is located! Others called for more competition, but only Alicia Mardini, representing the East Valley Community Health Center, advocated a public plan. Leeanne Caraway of the Health Insurance Association stressed that there must be an individual mandate—that all citizens must be enrolled—but didn't explain how, without a public plan, that would provide anything but a massive subsidy for the insurance industry—at an unsustainable cost to the taxpayer.

At the conclusion, a baffled Professor Lynch summarized the discussion by saying that those on the insurance side were saying "the costs are too high," and providers were saying ”pay us more." Interesting discussion, League, but short on solution. Those of us who continue to advocate for a single payer system are persuaded that this is not rocket science. Which system is more likely to bring down costs: one that demands a profit or one that doesn't? At the same time we know that single payer cannot be enacted now and that the "robust public option" is a necessary compromise. Short of that, Ms. Decker’s prediction of unsustainable increase seems to be our fate.

Bob Gerecke
David Levering
Andy Winnick
Claremont