Like many average, everyday Americans, I’m beginning to feel overwhelmed and slightly aggravated with the myriad of discussions about health care reform. Whether positive or negative, this topic has bombarded every newspaper, television news show and radio station. It leaves people like me wondering: Is America really ready for this type of change? Is health care reform worth all the bickering among lawmakers and citizens?
Well, I got the answer to these questions recently as I read about Sen. Jim DeMint’s Aug. 28 visit to the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. During a discussion on health care reform, a student, Erin Massey, who suffers from epilepsy shared that although medicine significantly helps her condition, she still has trouble getting medical coverage through insurance companies.
DeMint has said that 70 percent of all Americans’ health problems are problems of their own making. While touting his own healthcare plan, which is so weak that he has been unable to get any Congressional support at all for it, DeMint said, “Yeah, there will be some people who are turned down. Don’t build a system around those who can’t make good decisions.” Clearly, he’s forgotten about the significant number of South Carolians who can’t get insurance because they have cancer, heart conditions, mental illness or diabetes. S.C. citizens afflicted with these diseases are often rejected by insurance companies because they are high risk patients.
Sadly, these South Carolinians aren’t alone.
More than 45 million Americans don’t have insurance, either because they can’t afford the high premiums or they were denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. More than 700,000 South Carolinians live without health insurance. Many families are losing their choice of doctors due to insurance cutbacks and many simply never had the choice to begin with. This is the reason why our country’s health insurance industry needs reform.
To protect our citizens, President Obama has laid out eight Health Insurance Guarantees that would benefit everyone, even those people fortunate enough to already have insurance.  These guarantees include:1) no discrimination for pre-existing conditions, 2) no exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays, 3) no cost-sharing for preventive care, 4) no dropping of coverage for the seriously ill, 5) no gender discrimination, 6) no annual or lifetime caps on coverage, 7) extended coverage for young adults and 8) guaranteed insurance renewal.
Reforming the health insurance system is more than a moral imperative, it’s a fiscal imperative.  In South Carolina, many municipal governments are facing cutbacks across the board. They can no longer bear the burden of emergency care for the uninsured.  Dorchester County has not been spared from this economic crisis. Businesses, large and small, are struggling to balance their books and are forced to cut jobs because they can’t afford the rising cost of insuring their employees.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle agree that the system isn’t working. Although Jim DeMint doesn’t support the comprehensive health insurance bill proposed by our Democratic Congress, the rest of the country doesn’t feel that way.  The majority of Americans want a public option. They want health care reform.
 
Steve Yeomans is the chair of the Dorchester County Democratic Party. He can be reached at  stevejy@aol.com