On Tuesday, those members of our government who are truly passionate about reforming the country's health care system suffered yet another major setback in their attempts to pass the bill proposed in early August. Moderate Democrats and Republicans came together in vetoing an amendment to the bill called "The Community Choice Plan," which provided for a so-called public option. This plan would have allowed people to buy health care funded by the government rather than from private companies. The plan also would have instituted a standardized "coverage label" for all health insurance plans, a label that would clearly spell out plans' terms and costs.
Those supporting the veto claim the public option would "ultimately force private insurers out of business," as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said, according to the New York Times. Supporters believe it would help provide affordable health care to over 30 million uninsured Americans while making all types coverage plans more transparent.
What opponents of the public option amendment fail to see is the virtue and importance of its ability to regulate private health care companies that keep hiking up the costs of health care and exploiting the American people's needs. Right now, private companies operate with hardly any oversight; they have the power to raise costs and cut benefits without any consequences, and — thanks to the decades-old McCarran-Ferguson Act — are exempt from anti-trust laws. They take advantage of customers through confusing coverage plans and complicated pricing systems. In a practice known as rescission, companies drop thousands of gravely ill customers from their rolls each year, citing obscure rationales such as the fact that someone did not indicate a minor, unrelated medical condition when signing up for insurance.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who proposed the public option amendment, stated the obvious when he said, "We can't count on insurance companies. They are just maximizing their profits." Private health care companies are concerned with making money, not with the American populace. The public option would force the private companies to reform their practices or risk losing all of their business to the government. Though the public option plan might not completely halt the strikingly fast rise in health care costs, it would hold private companies accountable.
In early September, President Barack Obama fully backed the public option, but it is now increasingly clear that he will not be willing to fight uncompromisingly for it. Rockefeller's amendment, or something very similar, is absolutely integral to a serious health care overhaul. Obama promised during his campaign that he would carry out a deep and comprehensive reform of health care. If he allows the bill to pass without a public option, he will not only let down his voters but also permit companies to continue cheating costumers out of affordable, quality health care.
The only way to effectively improve the system is for the government to increase the transparency of private companies and control prices — be it through the insertion of an economic actor like a public option into the so-called free market or through strict regulation. If the government constructs a health care plan that is straightforward and affordable, the private companies will have to follow suit. The public option would provide the American public with a safe health care choice to protect them from unscrupulous providers. Without the public option, however, any reform bill will be just another unsuccessful attempt at reforming a desperately ailing system.
