Thirty sites across the state of Wisconsin held ‘house parties’ Monday, March 19th to celebrate the two-year anniversary since the passage of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Citizens gathered to hear Democrat Congresswoman Gwen Moore via teleconference give updates about the act’s future as well as its present benefits. The congresswoman also took questions from the audience and stayed overtime addressing concerns and comments about the nation’s current healthcare system and the approach Wisconsin’s leaders are taking.
Waiting for the program to begin at the 1st Unitarian Society on Milwaukee’s eastside, Tom Niebler, a citizen who, himself, has healthcare, expressed his concerns about the current system, “Every other developed, industrialized nation has healthcare as a right – people are entitled to it. There are problems all over this country about people being denied healthcare and a lot of people in authority just say, ‘so what, too bad, who cares – go off somewhere and die’, it’s terrible!”
Congresswoman Moore opened the forum summarizing the current benefits of the act, “The first part of the act is really a patient’s bill of rights. We wanted to immediately end the worst abuses of the health insurance industry affecting children, seniors, women and people of color.” Some of the changes include:
- 2.5 million young adults under age 26 could stay on their parent’s plan.
- Children under age 19 could no longer be turned away due to pre-existing conditions – in the past, insurance companies were rejecting kids who had asthma and menstrual cramps.
- Preventative screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies now must be covered without additional charges.
- Seniors now receive a 50% discount on brand-name perscription drugs.
- Due to new tools and resources to fight healthcare fraud, $10.7 billion has been recovered over the last three years.
A major component of the act is the establishment of Affordable Insurance Exchanges which are scheduled to be implemented in 2014. These exchanges are designed to level the playing field between the insurance industry and individuals/small businesses by offering health plan choices that will uphold certain benefit and cost requirements, “These exchanges are great for entrepreneurs. It’ll allow individuals to leave large companies as opposed to being hog-tied to an employer to make a living”, explained Moore.
To view all components and a complete implementation timeline of the Affordable Healthcare Act, visit http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html#event22-pane.
The Federal government offered the state of Wisconsin $37.7 million to set up insurance exchanges that would’ve helped tens of thousands of Wisconsinites get healthcare coverage. However, Republican Governor Scott Walker turned down the grant last January because he needed “to stop the encroachment of ObamaCare in our state”. Had Walker accepted federal money, his plans to cut Badgercare would’ve been prohibited since one of the grant’s stipulations is that current coverage must be maintained.
“It’s a shame that the US constitution did not affirm healthcare as a human right. Those who are not elderly, not employed by someone, not wealthy or not eligible children would’ve had some basic, primary healthcare available to them. Walker’s decision sets our state back after leading the nation in providing good healthcare coverage”, says Moore.
Yet the act’s $768 billion to $1 trillion price tag spread over ten years is a hard pill to swallow considering the current debt crisis and unemployment rates plaguing our country.
However, under the current system, healthcare costs have doubled since 2001, according to Dr. Robert Kraig, Director of Citizen Action Group. “If this trend continues, the system will not be able to sustain itself”, says Dr. Kraig who has earned a PhD at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is the author of the annual Wisconsin Health Insurance Cost Ranking Report.
A study done by the Common Wealth Fund in 2011 compared costs among twelve industrialized nations:
- The US spent $7538 per capita in 2008 on healthcare, more than twice the twelve country median of $2995.
- The US spent $897 per capita in 2010 on pharmaceuticals, almost double the twelve country median of $461.
- Prices (2007) of the thirty most commonly used drugs cost 23%-66% more in the US than the twelve countries listed in the study (Canada and the United Kingdom are included).
So who is baring the burden of these costs? Certainly not the health insurance or pharmaceutical industries.
The global pharmaceutical industry is expected to grow revenues from $781 billion in 2008 to $1.14 trillion in 2014. Meanwhile, combined profits of the five largest health insurance companies (UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc., Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc.) grew 51% between 2008 and 2010 while premiums increased 131% since 1999.
The impact of skyrocketing healthcare costs have hit home. In 2006 St. Michael’s hospital closed due to financial troubles – many speculate that the uninsured flooded the emergency room and the hospital could no longer absorb the losses. Last month, Aurora Sinai Medical Center was rumored to be closing soon due to the $20 million loss last year and the projected $30 million loss this year.
After Congresswoman Moore explained the benefits of free preventive care and insurance exchanges of the Affordable Care Act, one audience member asked, “why isn’t Governor Walker supporting this program?”
Moore answered, “I speculate that it has to do with money. You can make a lot of money performing colonoscopies, rather than providing them for free. We have a sick care system in the United States, not a healthcare system. We’re trying to bend the cost curve by catching problems early. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of resistance and it’s an old mindset we have to fight.”