Let's converse before repeal

[mikekerstetter]

dailyitem.com/0110_editorials/x1437859090/Lets-converse-before-repeal

The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

July 7, 2012
Let's converse before repeal


Daily Item

---- — Republicans in the House of Representative plan to vote this week on whether to repeal the health care reform law. While the House is certain to pass the measure -- it has already done so once before -- the largely symbolic bill has little chance of clearing the Democratic-run Senate.

The exercise is aimed at raising funds and mobilizing a political base that may not like the incumbent president, but also has little to like in the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

The GOP sees an opportunity in capitalizing on the public discontent with the version of health care passed in 2009 and hopes to quash the successful Democratic characterization of Romney's history as a corporate raider.

Procedurally there is an opportunity for Congress to target the keystone individual mandate, thanks to the legal interpretation used by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The chief justice ruled that the controversial individual mandate -- the core part of the law forcing Americans to pay a fine if they don't have health insurance -- is actually a tax. A complex congressional rule known as reconciliation would allow Republicans to change certain tax and spending components of the health care law with only a standard Senate majority.

There are ample reasons to believe that the health care legislation needs modification -- there are concerns that small businesses that now offer health care may opt out, forcing 20 million Americans, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, to obtain government-sponsored coverage. The health reform law also failed to resolve the way hospitals, HMOs and the pharmaceutical industries insulated themselves from the competitive market forces that would normally check the escalation of costs to consumers.

Some degree of repeal seems likely and welcome, but lawmakers ought to explain why they feel it is wise to repeal the health care reform before clearly defining a suitable alternative.

U.S. Rep. Tom Marino said that Congress will "initiate a fact-based national conversation about finding a better approach that will lower health care costs, increase access to quality care, and empower patients and doctors to make decisions about care; not insurance companies or bureaucrats."

That conversation needs to take place. Let's have it right now -- before repeal, so that Americans and their elected representatives know what the alternative is.

After all, who wants to wind up repealing the replacement for the reform. Let's get it right next time.

[mikekerstetter]

dailyitem.com/0110_editorials/x1058724002/Health-care-reform-still-needs-work

The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

June 28, 2012
Health care reform still needs work


Daily Item

---- — The Supreme Court decision to uphold the health care reform law does not alter the fact that the legislation is profoundly flawed. The court decision means we need to get to work making it better.

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal wing of the court to uphold the reform law, saying the federal government has the authority to levy taxes, and the keystone individual mandate is, in essence, a tax.

The court found problems with the law's expansion of Medicaid, but even there said the expansion could proceed as long as the federal government does not threaten to withhold states' entire Medicaid allotment if they don't take part in the law's extension.

It is not the only problem with the health reform law, which largely ignores the need to address how hospitals, HMOs and the pharmaceutical industries immunize themselves politically from market forces that check escalating consumer costs.

Reformers added 30 million people to the rolls of the insured without doing enough to address the cost and competitive factors. The American people have rejected the result as simply bad legislative work.

The Obama administration undertook a historic human rights challenge when the president resolved to tackle universal access to affordable health care.

The effort ran into entrenched interests and social inertia, and when all was said and done, the newly installed administration was not up to the task.

The resulting version of health care reform has largely been rejected by the American public because of the blatant flaws.

How unpopular has the legislation become?

Incumbent Rep. Tom Marino and his Democratic challenger Phil Scollo both immediately issued statements after the Supreme Court decision critical of the health care reform legislation. With virtually everyone in agreement that health care reform still needs work, we hope that members of Congress will go to work to lay out a coherent alternative to this version of health care reform before they disassemble it.

Tort reform would reduce the financial burden posed by medical lawsuits and malpractice insurance. A better method of managing charity care could deter people from using emergency departments when alternatives would be appropriate.

Other meaningful reforms would include changing the interstate commerce laws to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines, and allowing imported pharmaceuticals would drive down the cost of prescription drugs.

Congress has an opportunity to work to accomplish something meaningful with health care reform. It is an opportunity that should be seized and used to demonstrate leadership and cooperation.