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Residents: Health care system broken
Published 12/17/2009 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
Kansans on either side of the health care reform debate may not agree about the best approach to tackle rising medical and insurance costs, but they do agree on one thing: There are crippling problems with the current system.
That was the sentiment echoed by a group of area residents gathered to hear Brian Perkins, a senior health care policy advisor in Congressman Jerry Moran's Washington, D.C., office who was in Garden City to update residents about Moran's reaction to the Senate's health care reform bill -- now in its 18th day of debate as Democrats struggle to line up votes and pass their version before Christmas -- and hear constituents' concerns, as well.
"Anybody is naive who doesn't believe our system's costs are out of control," said Perkins, a Wichita native, to the about half a dozen residents gathered in the Finney County Administration Building Wednesday night. "At the end of the day, the bottom line is that we need a method that is going to provide quality health care for all Kansans."
In response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's announcement last week for a compromise on health care reform legislation -- part of which would have included an option for Americans to buy in to Medicare at the age of 55 to 64 -- Moran strongly opposed the "dramatic step toward a single-payer, one size-fits-all, government run health care system," and called it "irresponsible."
In the Senate's dialogues, the proposed government-run "public option" for uninsured individuals has been abandoned, and the alternative that would have given uninsured individuals the option to buy into Medicare has been dropped, according to several media reports. Senators also have rejected a proposal to help consumers obtain less expensive prescription drugs from Canada and Western Europe.
Several of those gathered Wednesday, however, voiced their concerns about the possibility of federal taxes funding abortions, though the House overrode a provision that would have allowed individuals who received government subsidies to buy policies that covered most abortions when it passed its version of a reform bill -- the Affordable Health Care for America Act -- on Nov. 7.
The Stupak-Pitts amendment included in the bill prohibits individuals who receive federal subsidies from using them to pay for abortions or insurance policies that cover abortions, according to its author, Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and it is a provision Congressman Moran supports, Perkins told Wednesday's crowd.
In addition, in his Nov. 7 statement opposing passage of the House bill, Moran said he especially was troubled by how he felt $500 billion in Medicare cuts and proposed reimbursement rates would affect rural hospitals in the state's first district.
Moran has said he believes the proposed House plans explode the deficit and contain billions in cuts to Medicare and proposed reimbursement rates that will affect Kansas' high per-capita population of seniors and critical access hospitals, which rely on the funding. His views were echoed by Perkins Wednesday.
"Only in Washington does cutting billions from a near-bankrupt Medicare program seem like a good idea," Moran has written. "These cuts will reduce benefits and raise premiums for Kansas seniors and make it harder for us to find a doctor or nurse when we need one."
At least one resident said he disagreed with Moran's positions on the health care reform debate.
Garden City resident Casey Kuhlmann pulled out a pump attached to a wire around his torso before explaining that an onset of diabetes at an early age has cost him, a Medicare patient, thousands of dollars out of his own pocket in medical costs, costs for care and medication that he explained have skyrocketed for him over the last decade.
"We do need enough inspectors to root out Medicare fraud, but we also need health care reform -- I'd like to see the Republicans work with Obama because we need more (cost) regulation," Kuhlmann said. "And when it comes to pre-existing conditions, well, you sure can't help the way you were born."
If the Senate passes a reform bill, the House would again vote on health care reform legislation before it could become law, according to Perkins.
About 338,000 Kansans in a state of 2.8 million lack health insurance, according to the Kansas Health Institute, a nonprofit health policy and research organization based in Topeka.
Medical debt incurred by those who aren't well covered is a leading cause of bankruptcy, and people with adequate health insurance are less likely to delay or go without needed care and tend to be healthier than those who don't have coverage or are underinsured, according to the KHI.
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