Why we need health care reform

All of us have a stake in successful health care reform, whether or not we have good Teamster health insurance coverage. All of our employers are being hit with relentlessly rising premiums, and losing our coverage is just one layoff away, especially if we have a “pre-existing condition.” And yet, many members still don’t understand what this issue has to do with them.

The problems with our broken health-care system are rampant. The typical American household pays $6,500* more for health care than the average household in other developed countries.

While few of us want to pay more taxes to cover the uninsured, we’re paying for them now. About $1,000 of the premiums we currently pay is going toward the costs of care for the uninsured. Without reform, working Americans can expect to lose $11,611* in wages and benefits in the next seven years due just to the increase in health care premiums.

The average employer contribution to an employee’s health insurance premium was $12,106 in 2007, almost double from $6,351 in 2000.* What else does today’s doubled health care premium buy? The average pay package for health insurance and disability CEOs was $8,747,914 in 2006.*

Private insurance companies spend 15% of our premiums and co-pays on administration. Medicare spends less than 3% on administrative costs.

The U.S. pays more for health care than any other country, but our life expectancy ranks behind Japan, most of Europe, Jordan, and Guam.

Those are just some of the problems. What are the solutions?

Right now, several bills are moving through both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on health care reform.

H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, guarantees that you won’t be denied coverage by an insurance company because of a preexisting condition. It prevents you from losing your health insurance if you get sick and allows you to keep your insurance if you change jobs, lose your job or start a small business.

This legislation lets people keep their current plan. It also creates a government-sponsored public plan, known as the “public option,” for individuals and families that lack health insurance. The bill includes limits to make sure that families won’t go bankrupt because of illness, improves oversight and cracks down on waste.

Congress is working on a way to fully pay for health care reform. Lawmakers have proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid, making them more efficient, and imposing a surcharge that will affect only the wealthiest one percent of households, and only four percent of small businesses.

The Senate is also working on health care reform legislation in several committees, although the Senate proposals are not currently as comprehensive as what’s in the House bill.

Whether the final Health Care reform package does what’s needed or not is up to us! Pick up the phone and call your congressmembers and especially Senator Dianne Feinstein (1- 877-264-4226) and tell them to stand up for health care!

 

* All factoids in this article came from www.teamstersforhealthcarereformnow.org