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twitterCOMMENTARY:
In reforming health care, we must not harm small businesses
Thursday, July 30, 2009 | 9:15 a.m.
Americans across the country are struggling to afford the high price of health care or lack access to the care they need.
In Nevada nearly a quarter of 18- to 64-year-olds go without health care coverage, and as the effects of the recession continue to grip our region, more Nevadans are losing their insurance or are finding it harder to keep up with rising costs. Nevada’s small businesses are also feeling the strain, as the high cost of health care is making them less competitive and dragging them down at a time when they are struggling to stay afloat.
As the health care debate in Washington, D.C., continues, one thing is clear: The status quo is unacceptable. In my 20 years in the Nevada Legislature and in my short time in Congress, I have strongly supported health insurance reform. I campaigned on the issue, President Barack Obama has promised it, the people have demanded it, and the country needs it.
The average American family pays an extra $1,100 a year in premiums to support the uninsured. And with premiums having doubled in nine years and growing three times as fast as wages, now is the time to act.
But to make health insurance reform a success, we must do it right. Nevada and our nation need health insurance reform that lowers costs, improves the quality of care and allows those who like their doctor or current plan to keep both. I want people to be in control of their health care, not insurance company CEOs or government.
Reforming our health care system is a critical component of our nation’s long-term fiscal health, and we must ensure that the steps we take do not unfairly burden small businesses. Small businesses are the engines of growth in our economy, and their recovery will be critical to our efforts to pull Nevada out of this recession and create jobs that put people back to work.
Many positive aspects of health insurance reform were included in legislation that came before the House Education and Labor Committee on which I serve. Ending the practice of denial based on preexisting conditions and preventing insurance companies from placing a cap or limit on the benefits they will cover are critical reforms that we must pursue. I also support proposals to eliminate co-pays for preventive care.
But I also have concerns about the effect the legislation could have on our small businesses. I want to make it very clear that my opposition to this bill in the committee was not to protect the rich or put the needs of the few above the needs of the many, but to say that we can do better.
Businesses in Southern Nevada are struggling, making it harder for Nevadans to find jobs, let alone ones that provide health care. The current version of this legislation increases taxes that could hurt our small businesses and slow economic recovery at a time when we must do all that we can to strengthen the businesses that are the backbone of our economy.
It is also critical that Congress continues to explore other options to pay for health insurance reform, looking at every alternative before turning to increased taxes. This includes cutting back on waste, fraud and abuse in the system. We should invest in health information technology, which will make health care more efficient and affordable by reducing administrative costs and duplicative tests.
We also need to invest more in preventive care and wellness and control skyrocketing drug prices. There is still room for additional concessions from private insurers and pharmaceutical companies as well.
As the effort to reform our health care system continues, I look forward to seeing a final bill that meets the critical principles of controlling costs, providing choice, expanding access and strengthening the competitiveness of our small businesses. Only then will we have real health insurance reform that will give people the coverage and peace of mind they need.
Dina Titus, a Democrat, represents Nevada’s 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Discussion: 23 comments so far…
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You mean there is someone in Nevada listening to the people! Dina Titus thank you for saying it like it should be said. The reform has to be "right", it has to work from all directions and not be controlled by our national government. The people should control the government not the other way around. I am grateful to hear a refreshing intelligent assessment of how it is on the health care reform. It takes time and it takes money and that money can't come from the empty pockets of those not finding work, nor the small businesses. Maybe it could be partially covered from cuts in wasteful spending in DC. Keep going Dina, we are backing you!
I strongly supported my friend Dina's run for Congress, both with contributions and with door-to-door and phone canvassing work. I am proud she is representing the 3rd District. However, I am bitterly disappointed with her vote in the finance committee against fundamental health care reform.
It is good to be concerned about small businesses, but the way the bill was structured, only 1.5 percent of "small" businesses - those that make annually above $350,000 - would be affected, and they would be affected on a sliding scale. The congresswoman's "no" vote in committee gave momentus to the wingnuts attempting to destroy President Obama's agenda for a better country. Southern Nevada, with one of the highest rates of uninsured in the country, particularly needs this reform. I hope Rep. Titus will support health care reform when it is voted on the floor.
Launce,
I feel your pain especially when I see Dina parsing the phrase "health insurance reform" as opposed to "health care reform". The importance for a public option for health care is because there is NO SUCH THING as health insurance reform.
Just as the financial institutions were unable to save themselves from savage geed, so have the for-profit health insurers. Unlike the financials, the health insurers have failed and must be replaced.
So sorry to see Dina has become a Blue Dog . Thank GOD Roosevelt had Democrats on his side.
Small businesses can't compete with large ones when it comes to benefits, family leave, medical, etc. Therefore, requiring business to join in consortium to provide insurance for their employees would help them by lowering turnover, and improving recruitment of talented people. Furthermore, individuals who would like to start businesses are often afraid to leave their large company positions because they would lose medical benefits. Japan and Taiwan have systems that allow people to be covered no matter what there situation is. There business sector is successful. I'll never vote for this person again. Her position does not even make sense.
Senator Titus is on the right track for reform of our health care. I do feel the small bussinesses tax amount woild not hurt them. Any health plan that gives Insurance & Drug Companies a large part in how it is to be made is a waste of time. They are for themselves period. We need a government plan in it to kept the Insurance & Drug companies halfway honest. I am retired & I am on a HMO and I am very well satisfied with it. That old arguement that you cannot pick your Drs or Hospitals is a bunch of crap from big bussinesses. My cost is very reasonable and my co-pays are small compare to the total cost for treatment. I do feel a co-pay for services and drugs should be part of the plan and if you can not afford them, a sliding scale for payment should be used.
Our nation seems to be a wonder of paradoxes when considering what we profess to believe in and our actions in reality.
The issue of healthcare has been plaguing our nation for decades with cost as the primary deadly virus for not having the kind of healthcare system that would be commensurate with our greatness as a nation. We claim, however, to be primarily a Christian nation -- about 280 million out of a total of about 306. It seems to me that Christ would be furious:
About us not already providing the best universal healthcare system affecting every individual living within our borders. Has he not commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves?
About the monumentally unreasonable distribution of our wealth such as about 3 million of us owning more than 30% of the nation's net wealth whereas 240 million of us at the opposite end own about 15%.
About the bottom line as our basic concern as a society and yet wasting our precious human and material resources by spending more than the rest of the world combined on a long past outdated military-industrial complex when we have no real enemies and this too in contradiction to one his greatest pronouncements: blessed are the peacemaker; they will be called children of God.
Let me conclude with two of Benjamin Franklin statements:
How many observe Christ's birthday, how few his teachings;
The way to be safe is never to be secure.
I am so glad Dina is now a "blue dog" and has the courage to oppose this bill. I am against it for too many different reasons than Dana mentions. The notion of "duplicative tests" is a non-issue. Sometimes tests NEED to be repeated before basing treatment upon a single test. And prohibiting denial of care based upon pre-existing conditions? Insurance companies will simply triple premiums for those people. I don't hear any talk about prohibiting exorbitant premium increases for pre-existing conditons. And what about limiting ridiculous lawsuits against doctors? Any brignt young person would be crazy to go to medical school today, particularly if this legislation passes. The whole thing is a moot point and an exercise in futility if we have no physicians left to treat people.
As a strong supporter of Congresswoman Dina Titus, it pains me to say that her opposition to the draft bill is just plain wrong. That 25% of Nevadans who have no insurance is what this is all about. I have an HMO which has served me well thus far, but we all know the insurance companies will not change their profiteering ways until they're faced with a government option that offers us a choice such as members of Congress now have. President Obama has made it clear that healthcare reform must include this public option in order to be effective-and he's also made it clear nobody will be forced to leave their current insurance and the doctor(s) they choose to consult. The Republicans will use any excuse to delay this landmark legislation.
Democrats,unite in enacting this historic and far-reaching healthcare reform NOW!
John Wooding
I did not donate money and canvass for Titus for this. Her calling it "health insurance reform" that says it all...How thoroughly disgusting.
I know and trust Congresswoman Titus! I am certain she has many reasons to prefer another bill over this one including, excessive concessions to Pharmaceutical companies and to "Insurance" firms, and insufficient controls on price escalation. I hear the industry is spending billions of dollars lobbying Congress. We'd need health care reform less if they spent that money on health care!!
Healthcare is the only commodity in America where we have no idea what it is going to cost us until AFTER the fact. A necessary component of reform MUST be that all providers MUST be required to publish their prices. This will make providers competitive and will put a lot of the cost control in the hands of the user. You get an estimate for your car repairs where the mechanic is prohibited from charging you more than a certain percentage above his estimate. When you go shopping at Wal-Mart or any store, you see the price before you buy. People are too dependent on their insurance companies to haggle price benefits. If medical service providers are required to publish ALL their prices, you'll see all prices drop. THIS is the kind of transparency we need! Publically publish all prices!
As a longtime Dina Titus supporter, I will admit my disappointment in her vote. Politics presents the conundrum that to be elected one must get support from a wide range of interests.
This vote, without a demonstrable negative effect of the bill on small business, may be a bone tossed to her more conservative constituents so she can stay in Congress next term. But its timing--when opponents are hoping for a defeat that will be "Obama's Waterloo" and "break him," cuts very deep.
I am afraid that whatever watered-down bill is passed by the time concessions are made to Republicans and Blue Dog Dems; and by the time insurance and pharma finish their dishonest ads, scare tactics and payoffs, won't be worth the paper it's written on.
Without a "public option," (like my Medicare) our tax dollars will only end up as subsidies in the pockets of the health "industry." It's called that for a reason--because, per the "market," profits come first, and people a distant second. Prices will climb, and we'll drown in the same sinking boat without REAL reform.
That's the kind of reform I had hoped Dina Titus would support. The best real solution, not the politically expedient position.
The lack of medical insurance by small business is what is hurting small business. We mandate that all businesses have workers comp or auto insurance, why not health insurance? As a small businessman I cannot be competitive if I do offer workers health insurance, because so many of my competitors scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to employee benefits.
Government is not the problem. Look at the success of the Veterans Health Care and Medicare. The problem is the insurance companies. 3rd Rate clerks with barely a high school diploma, and in some cases out sourcing, are making decisions of life and death. Now really would rather have a clerk in Bangladesh making a health care life and death decision or would you like someone in the US doing it?
Providing affordable health care for employees would put all small businesses at an advantage. Some of the most successful small businesses in the US are those who started out as small and provided a laundry list of benefits for employees. Have you heard of Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's?
Business 101 should be, take care of your employees first and they will take care of you. To be a successful business you have to be successful with your employees. Providing benefits for employees is number one.
I'm tired of the conservative lie that Health Insurance in Canada, England, Germany, etc is no good! The counter ads being run by the insurance companies are pure fiction.
Why should something so fundamental as health care be so expensive. Should the business of saving lives be a profit making venture? I'm in favor of paying Doctors and other Health Care professional's top dollars. I'm against paying insurance companies to insure that they make outrageous profits by withholding health care.
Like lt719, I read political expediency into Titus's comments. Get the liberal vote in order to win the seat; get the conservative vote to keep it. No bill will be perfect. As long as the final draft includes the main points desired by the Administration, I'm hoping that Titus will vote 'yes.' Otherwise, I will vote 'no' for Titus the next time I go to the polls.
I'm tired of the conservative lie that Health Insurance in Canada, England, Germany, etc is no good! The counter ads being run by the insurance companies are pure fiction.
Wake up Americans stop the scam.
I'm hoping that Dina Titus will vote 'yes.'
CNN host Lou Dobbs continues to "mainstream" fringe conspiracy theories asserting Obama needs "produce a birth certificate."
Write to CNN and demand Dobbs retirement.
Thw USA spends double what other western industrialized nations pay for health care.
They all have universal coverage. The debate should be all about which of these national plans to model our own plan upon. tinkering with what private insurers can or cannot do is a false argument. We need universal coverage. We need Titus to go there.
I worked hard for Obama's victory here in Nevada. Titus better realize she came in on his coattails. Full support for Obama's health care program is the only acceptable stance for Titus. I did not work hard for a dem sweep to find out this woman is a blue dog. She should change party affiliation so there is no confusion
I am appauled at the near criminal limitations and discriminatory acts the Health care system has placed on small business and individuals in the United States for over 50 years while Congress sits back and lines their pockets with contributions from this same vial industry.
In politics it is call a campaign donation. This is simply white washing a crime. A crime against Americans who are dying every day so that congress can have the luxury of receiving campaign contribution. It is tantamount to killing for money.
You can NOT use the excuse of small business. All small businesses in the United States will have an equal burden to bear. This will result in some raising of consumer prices on products produced by small business.
Congress spent over a Trillion Dollars creating freedom in Iraq but will not change the law to insure the health and safety of our own citizens.
Stop the excuses and politics NOW!
Stop being complicit in the deaths of your electorate through doing nothing!
Stop lining your pockets with campaign contributions and finding every excuse you can muster NOT do the RIGHT thing!
I am small business. I DO NOT support your genocide through non-action!
Along with what you have stated your support of in reforms. I suggest you should eliminate "group coverage" and "age bracketing" as well. It should cost the same price for every American to get health insurance weather they work for a fortune 500 company or are a member of the "small business" community that you seem so passionate about. The insurance policy should cost the same for the healthy 13 year old as the 55 year old.
Under this system V.A. health care, Medicaid and Medicare could then be folded into this system and eliminate the all this layered spending allowing for ONE streamlined capatalistic system. We do not need government insurance. We need our government to put in place laws and policies that require the health care industry to play fair with all Americans.
Congress is guilty of desertion in its responsibility to the American people concerning health care. Congress is complicitory in a form of passive genocide.
STOP your excuses and quit telling me why you are doing nothing while being an obstructionist on this "live or die" issue.
I am not interested in you NOT voting for health care reform, I am interested in you DOING something about health care reform, NOW!
Unless our Congress people start to change their tactics and starts actively trying to do something very positive and assertively towards making health care fair and available for all Americans they will loose our votes. I will be working for their opposition to defeat them in re-election.
As a Nevada voter, I am sick and tired of Congress being bribed (excused me that I didn't use the white wash term "lobbied").
We are sick and tired and dying from your status quo on The Hill!
If you want my vote get off your duff and do something NOW!
Wow, way to dance around the issue! The fact is that more than three out of four Americans really want single-payer healthcare, or at least a public option to have that choice.
How about representing the people (who by the way ARE the government) and stop pandering to the greedy insurance companies?
On Health care Dina is a DINO. Dem. In Name Only.
Dina Titus
We elected you.
We will find a way to impeach you too.
No oped, JUST VOTE YES ON HEALTH REFORM TODAY.
That is why you are in office today!
Responding to Mike Naft, Titus for Congress.
Dear Mike, you cannot be pleased by the responses from those of us who are Titus supporters who disagree with her lack of support for health care reform. We need a new plan that comes at lower cost and does not leave out the 47 million with no coverage. Medicare, Veterancare and Congresscare are all efficient and low cost. The rest of us need the same.
Moreover, with a public plan no "clerk" from an insurance company will prevent us from having the treatment we need.
Ask Dina Titus to take up the banner for a public, lower-cost, more effective health CARE plan that helps the patient and not the insurance company.
Where is there freedom in the USA when citizens are forced to purchase health insurance from a for profit insurance company? A single payer, not for profit insurance plan would be less expensive, more efficient and would provide better coverage. This is fact. It is incomprehensible that some want to "protect" the private insurance companies. But members of Congress can demand and get huge payoffs (campaign contributions) from Big Insurance and Big Pharma to keep things the way they are.
Those in Washington wanting the status quo simply want to continue robbing us of our freedom to choose how we want to spend our money. They lie trying to convince us that a single payer, government sponsored program won't work. Well, why don't they tell seniors then that they should give up Medicare; tell our vets that they are on their own and toss them out of the VA hospitals. The GOP won't go on record demanding that the government kill off those programs. No -- they would rather stand on the Senate or House floor and claim that the government is going to kill off their grannies.
To be sure, there is nothing "conservative" in prohibiting me from selecting from the largest set of insurance alternatives; there is nothing conservative in confiscating my property without due process; nothing conservative in arresting an individual in the privacy of his own home; nothing conservative in ramming religion down my throat at every opportunity (while screwing around with your best friend's wife a la John Ensign.) Family Values politicians? No thank you! Americans seem to be content to wear the yoke of GOP tyranny simply because they don't want to be labeled a "Liberal." But the last time I checked, the root of the word is freedom, something the "conservatives" who ruled the roost for so many of the last years have demonstrated they are willing to sacrifice to "protect" us. This health care debate too is simply about power. The GOP had it, they abused it, they destroyed the country and now they want it back to further enrich themselves and their backers. I too worked for Dina Titus to help get her elected. I am disappointed in her current position regarding health care. Perhaps she will learn enough from constituents to support a really robust plan. I will see how things develop - but she should not take my vote for granted.
Dina, If I were you I would distance myself as quickly as possible from Nazi Pelosi, Harry Kerri Reid, and the far left liberal side of the Democratic party that will be its' downfall sooner rather than later. Just say no! Once the vote is cast, it will be done.
Oh and by the way, who voted for THREE new Jets for congress to fly around in ?? Congress - Too good to fly first class on commercial flights like normal citizens ?