Health care reform 101

Like most Americans, Wayne State students are concerned about the impending reform of the U.S. health care system. The issue itself can be highly confusing and complex, and therefore, it is easy to be misinformed. Here are the 10 most commonly asked questions and answers about health care reform.

1. Why am I seeing health care reform so much in the news lately??

With this economic downturn, less and less Americans possess health care, and therefore cannot afford substantial medical care.  

Health Care is costly for employers, and so many have stopped offering it to their employees, or are using the most primitive form of insurance, that covers very little. Because of this, nearly 46 million Americans have no insurance, and an additional 25 million are underinsured.

According to the journal Health Affairs, the U.S. spent a total of $2.4 trillion on health care in 2007, or $7,900 per person. Although President Obama, the American Medical Association, Democratic and Republican members of Congress and America's Health Insurance Plans, all agree that change is necessary, they all disagree how to go about it.

2. What is President Obama proposing?

The main idea of Obama's plan is to create a health insurance program that is funded by the government. It works similarly to how Medicare works for Americans over the age of 65.similar to how Medicare is now an option for Americans over age of 65. The plan is outlined on his website.

3. How is he gonna pay for it?

Obama said that there is savings in the federal budget that could potentially help finance the reform. Additionally, he proposed reducing the tax deduction for higher-income Americans.

4. What do Republicans think of Obama's plan?

In general, they don't particularly care for it. They fear that having a government funded health care program will sway business owners into opting for this program as opposed to private insurance.

They also fear that the government funded program will be less expensive and their for be of lesser quality. For more information on the Republican stand point, see House Minority Leader John Boehner's website

5. How would Republicans like to reform health care?

Republicans believe that Obama's plan will turn costly in the long run and health care will end up being more expensive as opposed to less.
The House Republicans vision is to create individual tax breaks for buying health insurance. For people who build health savings accounts, the Republicans promise incentives like allowing children to remain dependents until the age of 25.

6. But I'm happy with the insurance I receive from my employer. How will this affect me?

There are a few different view on this. Obama explains that if you already receive high quality health care -- your plan won't change and you will still keep the same care. Republicans argue that if Obama's plan goes through, your employer will drop the high quality health insurance provided and choose the less costly government funded plan.

7. I have a pre-existing condition and can't get health insurance. How will this affect me?

Both Obama and Boehner have either spoke or blogged about health care must be available to everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions, however neither of them have elaborated as to how they will enforce it.

8. How do doctors feel about this?

The American Medical Association said that while it believes that a health care reform is eminent, "the AMA does not believe that creating a public health insurance option ... is the best way to expand health insurance coverage."

One of the larger fears for the AMA is that doctors will be reimbursed for their services with Medicare rates.

"Medicare reimbursement rates have not kept pace with the cost of practice," AMA President Dr. Nancy Nielsen told CNN earlier this week.

"Our Medicare rates are back at 2001 rates, and the reality is, that's not where our rent is, that's not where the electricity is. The system for paying doctors is a broken system, and everybody acknowledges it."

However some other doctor groups favor the idea. The American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Physicians Alliance and other groups have all issued statements in support of Obama's plan.

"Having the choice of a public health insurance plan will help make health care more affordable for patients, foster greater competition in the insurance market and guarantee that quality, affordable coverage will be there for our patients no matter what happens," they wrote in a joint statement..

9. Obama has mentioned high health care costs in McAllen, Texas, several times. What's up with that?


Basically, a study was done at the Dartmouth Institute which exhibited that doctors in high-priced cities tend to refer their patients to hospitals and specialists, as opposed to handling their issues in an outpatient manner.

10. How do health care costs in the U.S. compare with costs in other countries?

The U.S. spends $6,714 per person.

The U.K. spends $2,760 per person.

France spends $3,449 per person.

Canada spends $3,678 per person,

While some argue this is because the U.S. has better health care, others disagree.

According to the CIA World Factbook, The United States ranks 50th in life expectancy, and 180th infant mortality (meaning there are only 43 countries have lower infant mortality).

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Information compiled with the assistance of CNN.com