Opinion Columns Examine Efforts To Reform Health System

With mid-term elections looming, the issue of health care reform has resurfaced in Congress. The following are opinion pieces addressing potential reform:

• Boston Globe: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has returned to the national debate over health care reform after spending eight years "nibbling tactically at the edges of the problem," Thomas Oliphant writes in a Boston Globe column. Kennedy has outlined a "major proposal" for a "comprehensive cure" that would require employers with more than 100 employees to offer health insurance benefits comparable to those offered by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. While the proposal will "raise eyebrows and hackles on the right," Oliphant writes that it would "by itself" help more than 33% of the uninsured. In addition, Oliphant notes that Kennedy also plans to "creatively nibble at the edges of the problem" by "insist[ing]" on the passage of pending legislation that "would speed the enrollment of eligible low-income kids and permit the enrollment of their parents" in CHIP programs. According to Oliphant, Kennedy's reform plans takes into account "cost containment, full funding of life- and money-saving research, tough steps to rein in drug marketing programs short of price controls and equal treatment for the mentally ill." Oliphant concludes, "One can almost hear the groans of the status quo defenders. But the reason House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) calls Kennedy the Energizer Bunny of progressivism is not that he keeps doing the same thing; it's that he's right, and he never gives up" (Oliphant, Boston Globe, 6/23).
• Washington Post: America's health care system cannot be fixed with "incremental steps," but instead it needs to be "overhauled," Warren Jones, a physician and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. Although the "prevailing wisdom" among lawmakers on how to solve the health care "crisis" is incremental steps, "[a]ll the evidence ... says that it's the wrong approach and that it won't work," Jones writes. America's "finest attempt" at incrementalism -- CHIP -- has begun "unraveling just as some measure of success is being realized." Although the number of children covered by CHIP rose 38% from 2000 to 2001, states, which are facing budget deficits, have begun freezing or reducing enrollment and adding fees or restrictions. Americans are ready to move beyond small-scale changes, Jones writes, citing a CBS News/New York Times poll in which 57% of adults surveyed said the system requires "fundamental changes," and 30% said it should be completely rebuilt. Just 13% said that only "minor changes are necessary," Jones notes. Jones' organization has drawn up a plan to "fundamentally restructure" the health care system. The AAFP plan would guarantee "[b]asic health care services" and catastrophic insurance coverage to all citizens, ensuring that "[f]ewer little problems ... become big" -- and more expensive -- ones. The proposal would be funded through a "national, broad-based taxing mechanism" and would maintain the current insurance market, allowing people to "opt out" of coverage above the basic benefit. Jones concludes, "Americans know it's time to act. Let's get to the hard discussion about how to do so as quickly as possible. Our proposal is on the table. We are ready to debate the issue and work with others toward a solution" (Jones, Washington Post, 6/23).