“Why We Need Health Care Reform,” from the Horse’s Mouth

Fellow blogger Mark Daniels just posted ”Two Helpful Primers on the Health Care Reform Debate,” linking to two good overviews of the health care reform debate and issues, one from The New York Times and the other from The Wall Street Journal.

In this morning’s New York Times, there also happened to be an Op-Ed on “Why We Need Health Care Reform,” by a person who, albeit far from neutral on the issue, can certainly be called knowledgeable about it.

The author makes, in my opinion, a good case for health care reform.

He discusses four main ways how the proposed reform “will provide more stability and security to every American.”

First, if you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of high-quality, affordable coverage for yourself and your family — coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job.

Second, reform will finally bring skyrocketing health care costs under control, which will mean real savings for families, businesses and our government. We’ll cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies that do nothing to improve care and everything to improve their profits.

Third, by making Medicare more efficient, we’ll be able to ensure that more tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors instead of enriching insurance companies. This will not only help provide today’s seniors with the benefits they’ve been promised; it will also ensure the long-term health of Medicare for tomorrow’s seniors. And our reforms will also reduce the amount our seniors pay for their prescription drugs.

Lastly, reform will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable. A 2007 national survey actually shows that insurance companies discriminated against more than 12 million Americans in the previous three years because they had a pre-existing illness or condition. The companies either refused to cover the person, refused to cover a specific illness or condition or charged a higher premium.

The author explains how the reform will put an end to these practices, and:

Most important, we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups, preventive care and screening tests like mammograms and colonoscopies. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end. It makes sense, it saves lives and it can also save money.

Many will recognize in these four points the same arguments the president, his administration and members of Congress have been making at countless TV and radio appearances, weekly addresses and town-hall meetings.

That is no accident, because the author of the Op-Ed is none other than the President of the United States himself.

But, don’t let that keep you from reading the Op-Ed. Regardless of your views on health care reform, you may find something in Obama’s Op-Ed that you somewhat agree with, or something that you vehemently disagree with, and on which you may want to make your views known—as over 500 (and climbing) New York Times readers are doing right now in the Times’ comments section.

By the Way, even if you skip the Op-Ed, perhaps even more interesting are those 500-plus readers’ reactions, ranging from a short and sweet, “Sounds good to me,” to a somewhat lengthier, more lively:

Sorry, no sale. The same Congress that brought us TARP with multi million dollar bonuses for the crooked / inept bankers and broker that nearly ruined this country are going to “reform” health care. NO THANKS. I make well under $100K and my biggest expense is not health care, or housing or food or clothing but TAXES. Yes giving free health care to 40 million people will save money. SURE. P.S. the 40 million includes illegal aliens according to Pew Research as reported by NYT. So you Mr. President are lying about the number of people without insurance or you are completely ignorant of the basic facts. Which ever is the case, it does not inspire much trust or confidence.

And everything in between…

And, of course, public and media reaction has been equally “varied.”

For example, at rightwingnews.com:

Oh, Good, NY Times Features Another Opinion Piece Written By Barry

I have to say, I am getting really, truly, sick and tired of the health care debate. All we tend to hear are the same talking points repeated again and again and again from President Obama and the Democrats, along with their supporters. Most of which are lies and/or covers for slowly implementing single payer. Of course, we do get a few new ones now and then, like calling anti-government run health care folks Nazis, anti-American, mobsters, etc.

UPDATE:

As of early Sunday afternoon, the New York Times has published over 1,100 readers’ comments on the Obama Op-Ed.

They are quite interesting.

You can go to them directly here