The New York Times reports (link here) that Florida's legislature recently decided to allow insurance companies to sell health insurance that does not cover many basic needs. The purported strong points of the legislation are that it does not cost taxpayers any money, and that more people will be "insured." Seriously though, what does it even mean to be "insured" anymore? At this rate it will only be a few years before perseverance and hope are the only treatments these stripped down "insurance" plans offer for people with chronic diseases.
The article also reports that Tim Pawlenty, the Governor of Minnesota, recently vetoed a bill that would have offered better health care to poor working families, calling it "excessive and irresponsible". Pawlenty does make an interesting point though:
The system is busted, and you can’t take a system that is growing at several times the rate of inflation and subsidize your way to a solution.
It seems that if we admit the system is busted, then we would want to fix the whole system, not just tinker around the edges like the Florida legislature. Unfortunately, tinkering around the edges is easier, especially when so many Americans are hit hard by corporate profiteering and an economy that isn't doing so hot.
America has always been at its best when we didn't take the easy way out though, so I think we'll eventually find a solution to this problem. We will just have to keep reminding people that simple solutions and universal health care won't happen by any kind of fancy payment plan or expedient political pandering. We need to reduce costs by re-organizing how health care is delivered. It's an ambitious and exciting challenge, I'm sure looking forward to our Member Conference on June 14th.
cheers
