Tom Daschle
I see Obama has chosen Tom Daschle as his new Health Secretary. This was fairly predictable given that Obama is extremely keen on attempting universal health care insurance. Clinton was the last one who tried to introduce this but his attempt was unsuccessful, for various reasons (largely because it was not well thought out). It remains to be seen whether Daschle, who is a keen supporter of universal health care, can pull it off in this current harsh economic climate.
American has an entirely privatised health system which is poorly regulated and full of areas of perverse incentives. There are 47 million uninsured Americans who essentially have little or no access to this system except for emergencies. There are probably at least a further 100 million who have inadequate medical insurance and run the risk of bankruptcy if they become seriously ill. In fact, the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US is unexpected, large medical bills.
So I’m with Obama on this one. The US health care system is a travesty of vested interests and the plight of the uninsured and underinsured is a disgrace, especially in the world’s wealthiest country. The economic cost of poorly maintained health is vast and only dwarfed by the human cost.
Having said that, it is going to take a lot more than simply extending medicare to the uninsured. Nothing less than a total revamp of the entire system will suffice. Otherwise the resultant bill will be far more that even a rich country like America can afford.
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Nov 25 08 2:42 pm
One message for Obama/Daschle:
Good luck.
If Obama can pull this off, then he can rightfully call himself one of the greatest
presidents.
Indeed
Nov 25 08 4:43 pm
There are 47 million uninsured Americans who essentially have little or no access to this system except for emergencies.
That’s a bit overstated. About ten million of those would not be covered by national health insurance because they are not citizens. Many of the rest are eligible for Medicaid as of right – they just haven’t signed up for it.
About 18 million of the uninsured have household incomes above $50,000 which means they could afford health insurance while about a quarter of the uninsured have been offered employer-provided cover but declined (all statements come from a NY Times OpEd by Greg Mankiw published on the 4th of November 2007).
So, yes, there is a significant problem of uninsured americans but it is significantly less than the often quoted 47 million figure.
Nov 25 08 6:19 pm
Peter: What you are saying is that many are not on insurance by choice or through ignorance or ineligibility. They would still, however, be uninsured. Hence the statement is probably correct.
Many of those who supposedly can “afford” health insurance have heavy debt load courtesy of high house prices and, of course, personal debt. The same holds true for employees who are often offered only subsidized insurance or a choice between insurance and more money or some other perk.
The only way they will be able to insure everyone is to make the basic insurance compulsory. People could then purchase add-ons to supplement this eg no co-payments or certain procedures and tests not requiring approval.