Important Congressional Vote Possible This Weekend

The House Leadership Bill may be voted on as early as this weekend. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a great summary of the provisions in the House Leadership bill, and there is a link to their summary here or you can download the PDF at the link below.

It is certainly incredible that Congress has gotten as far as it has under this new administration. There has never been a time when bills focused on expansion of health insurance have been viable in both the House and the Senate. That by itself makes this an historic moment. It is important that you know what the House will be voting on and when various components of the legislation would take effect. Many Americans think that we are going to get universal health insurance in 2010, as soon as Obama has a bill to sign. READ the summary so that you understand what they are voting on, or what you want to push to make better. Our job is to inform and influence, not just be bystanders. There is still time for you to contact your Congressional representative and tell them what you want to see in reform.

I’m often asked where the Archimedes Movement stands on bills in Congress, and various specific issues such as the Public Option, Medicare for All, Single Payer, etc. I always come back to why we formed the Archimedes Movement four years ago - an organized attempt to reframe the health reform debate.  Congress is wrangling with how we will pay for insurance and in turn pay for medical services. This is critically important, there is no doubt about that.

But health insurance reform is not the same as health reform and we need that too. In order to actually change the amount of debt we’re leaving for future generations we have to address the larger picture frame - health – and we will not improve the population of this country simply by having everyone insured. We need the President and Congress to state unequivocally that the health of the people in this nation is something worthy of investment. We have a lot of work to do if we really want to change the amount that we spend and to alter what we spend our health care dollars on. Otherwise we are adding more people to the Titanic and doing little to avoid the proverbial iceberg. We spend too much and don’t get health as an outcome. That’s what we must address next.

Because you see, we want to see the United States move from 35th on the list of healthy nations, to being in the top 10 or wow, become number one. And we believe that waiting until people get sick and assuring that they get needed care is only one piece of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle itself.

We have to figure what is needed to start infants off with a healthy start, to keep people and communities healthy, build incentives that enhance health and use public money in ways that produce health (which also means stopping the use of public money to subsidize things that result in poor health!)

Prevention, education, health and disease management, community based options that optimize the health and well-being of all in our communities – we speak about these components and think they will come if we insure everyone. If we start with medical care and insurance, and try to fit everything into that frame, there is so much that doesn't fit, because medical care is there to take care of us after we get sick. We have to revamp our system to start from a clear objective of optimizing health. 

We know what is needed to improve health, but we don't invest in those areas. We pick up the pieces after our health - physical and mental - has deteriorated, and sometimes we don't get there in time. At our conference last month, in a response to a question about why the US does not have a model of universal care like other nations, Bruce Goldberg responded by saying that in this country we don't have a 'social contract' or sense of responsibility for the people around us, and that until we develop that social contract we will struggle with our piece-meal approach to creating a health system.

We know that today's system is broken, and we want to do more than require that everyone purchase a ticket on the sinking ship. Do we want the health insurance reform bill to pass in Congress? Absolutely yes. Do we think that Congress could have done more - YES; do we think that the bills that have been developed in the House or Senate are going to lead to improved health of people in the United States? Maybe, but only if you need medical care to get well. We want more than that and believe we can do better. 

Let your congressional representative know - before and after the vote - that you support their efforts to change the way that people in this nation have access to health insurance. Then, let them know you're ready to help them take the next step and the step after that to assure that our nation makes the necessary investments in the health of its people. Our work - and theirs - is far from done.