Cleburne Times-Review, Cleburne, TX

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August 20, 2009

Edwards: Current insurance system not sustainable

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

Editor’s note: U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, stopped by the Times-Review offices on Tuesday to discuss health care legislation and the surrounding debate. This is part two of that interview. Part one appeared in Wednesday’s paper.



Q. One of the most common concerns is that people like their insurance and doctor and fear this proposal would take that away.

A. I think it is a common question, and people are concerned. The people at risk are not just the 30,000 people of Johnson County who have no health insurance.

The people really at risk today are also those who have health insurance and like it. The present system is unsustainable in that insurance and the medical care they have today won’t be there two or three years from now if we don’t get control of health care cost increases. Costs are going up three times the wage rate of working families. That’s not sustainable.

People who have insurance today in Texas are paying $1,800 uninsured tax for their health care premiums. It’s a hidden tax that they’re paying, not to provide for their health care but to provide some of the costs the uninsured who walk into the emergency room with no insurance. That $1,800 is going up every year. So the cost increases, and increased numbers of uninsured, are going to threaten the quality of health care that so many people appreciate and want to protect.

So, I think we need health care reform to protect the quality of care and affordability of care for those who have no insurance today. This isn’t just about the uninsured. This is just as much or more so about protecting the present benefits of people who do have health insurance.

Doing nothing will put at risk the present health care benefits of those who have health insurance.

But I will not vote for any bill just for the sake of change. It will have to be change that I’m convinced is good for families, small businesses and long term for our country.



Q. What about those who can’t afford health insurance. Without the public option, how do we get them covered?

A. The House bill would set an insurance exchange. Oh, and by the way, one of the other insurance reforms I support is providing competitive rates for small businesses. Right now small businesses are charged exorbitant rates compared to what an Exxon Mobil would be charged for health care.

But there will be an insurance exchange set up made up of private insurance companies. They will compete for employees who don’t receive health care through their jobs. Instead of the insurance companies negotiating with one person for rates, they’ll have to compete with millions of potential customers, making a huge co-op so they have more bargaining power with the insurance companies.

If you are making under four times the poverty rate, which is up to $88,000 for a family of three, then there will be subsidies for a sliding scale based on someone’s income to help subsidize the cost of that insurance.

A key thing that has to be in this bill for me to support it is effective cost control. If we don’t reduce the rate of increase in health care, Texans will pay $24,000 a year in 2016 for their health care insurance. That would represent 51 percent of the median income in Texas. That’s unsustainable.

I think a lot of people don’t understand that more and more small companies are dropping their health insurance. So, while people may like their health care insurance today, but their company might drop it tomorrow. And then where will they be? Especially if their spouse has cancer, or their child has leukemia. They’ll be uninsurable.

I’ll also emphasize that people will be able to continue with the health insurance company they’re presently with if they like their insurance. And they can continue with the doctor they have today. This plan is not going to prohibit choice of insurance or doctors. It’s going to make it more competitive and increase the choices people have.

In terms of the marketing of this, I don’t think administration or its authors in Congress have done a very good job of explaining what’s in this bill. The challenge they face is that it’s so complicated. It’s a 1,000 page bill.



Q. Do we still have five versions of the 1,000 page bill?

A. You have in effect, there’s probably dozens of versions out there with different groups. But in terms of the House and Senate, the House presently has one bill pending. It came out of three different committees. They did their respective parts on it and brought the parts together. That’s the only bill pending in Congress for vote, and that’s the House bill.

The Senate has two committees that have been working on this, and they haven’t passed anything out of committee. They have the Education Labor Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. So I’m very anxious to see what the Senate comes up with, and I’m glad the Senate is still trying to develop a bipartisan health and insurance reform bill.

It would be much better for the country if we can pass a solid bill that has bipartisan support because then you have buy-in from the country. If it’s done strictly on a partisan basis, it will make it much more difficult to implement.

But people have legitimate reasons to voice concerns and oppose the bills being considered in Congress. But I hope we’ll all feel responsibility to separate the facts from the myths. And there are some out there such as those preying on the fears of seniors, that are not acting responsibly. I hope we can have a more honest, respectful, open debate on this.

That’s why I want to have these discussions to figure out more from people if it’s a specific provision in the bill that caused concern or just something you heard over lunch one day. So we can again separate the facts from the myths.

Listen, it’s a challenge for me to try to fully know all the details of this bill, and I’m going to be spending weeks on this.

I think between 19 meetings this week, with several dozen meetings over the next three weeks listening to a lot of questions and viewpoints along the telephone town hall and then three in-person regional town hall meetings, it’s a good-faith effort on my part to reach out and listen to our district.



Q. The time and place of the three town hall meetings remains to be determined?

A. Yes. I hope we can locked that down sooner rather than later. Will this be a one-day notice? No. We’ll let people know just as soon as we have it.

Text Only
Edwards: Current insurance system not sustainable
by By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com , , Thu Aug 20, 2009, 10:31 AM CDT
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