Kaua‘i residents know this better than most. If we do not act soon, health care costs coupled with our broken health care delivery system will compound and increasingly burden our families, businesses and the wellness of our nation. Unfortunately today,
Kaua‘i residents know this better than most. If we do not act soon, health care costs coupled with our broken health care delivery system will compound and increasingly burden our families, businesses and the wellness of our nation.
Unfortunately today, Hawai‘i may no longer be able to claim that it is the health state.
The cost of family health insurance is $13,000 a year here and will rise to $20,000 by 2018. The average amount that Hawai‘i’s employers paid for worker’s health insurance doubled from 1999-2008. A national study found that 27 percent of Hawai‘i residents under the age of 65 were uninsured a portion of the time between 2007 and 2008. And those who are insured subsidized those who aren’t, with insured families paying about $700 more a year.
Across our state, the stories are disturbing. Many of our neighbors are risking not insuring their children just hoping that they will stay healthy.
And rural conditions worsen. Critical medical services are not available on the Neighbor Islands. Kaua‘i residents know that chemotherapy and other critical medical services aren’t available on island, forcing many to fly to Honolulu for care, placing an unacceptable burden on families at the worst possible time.
While the United States Congress and the Obama administration are now working out the details for health care reform, interest groups are spreading misinformation so ridiculous that they were initially ignored.
Proponents of reform mistakenly believed no one could possibly believe such outlandish statements as those being made by Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. After all, who could believe that “death panels” would be assembled by the United States government, or that this legislation would give the federal government access to your bank account?
We learned our lesson.
The last three weeks has been a tough fight of batting down rumors and clarifying the legislation, but we still have a strong chance of reform passing this year.
The president offered three principles that health care reform must achieve: 1) reducing costs 2) guaranteeing choice, and 3) ensuring everyone has access to affordable health care.
President Obama has achieved collaborative commitment from the medical industry to reduce costs on the one hand and sustained very real world, grassroots pressure on the other. Like any tough political issue, making health care reform happen will take a constant combination toughness and flexibility.
Much of the reform effort will center around the cost structure of health care. As we all know, we are spending too much money on treatments that don’t make Americans any healthier — our system seems to equate more expensive care with better care. We have to fix this part of the system. For example, we will save billions nationally by introducing generic biologic drugs into the marketplace and by bulk-purchasing drugs for seniors under Medicare.
We need a united front to battle the rumors and the entrenched interest who don’t want change, but we are fortunate in Hawai‘i to have a Congressional delegation that backs health care reform and President Obama’s agenda. We can all be proud that they are working diligently on this issue and that they see the inseparable bonds between stimulating our economy and keeping people healthy.
Together, we can work towards reforming our health care system, and Hawai‘i can again be the health state.
• Brian Schatz is the chair of the Hawai‘i Democratic Party.
