Universal Health Insurance

[pickledpepperRN]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=534&ncid=534&e=6&u=/ap/20040114/ap_on_re_us/uninsured_solutions

U.S. Urged on Universal Health Insurance

Wed Jan 14, 4:28 PM ET

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) on Wednesday recommended for the first time that the government provide universal health insurance, attempting to spark an election-year debate on a decades-old problem that keeps getting worse.

The president and Congress should set 2010 as the deadline for providing coverage to all, according to the institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites), a private organization chartered by Congress to provide scientific advice to the government.

The report endorsed no proposal and provided no estimate of cost, except to say it would be expensive.

It said that rising costs, increasing numbers of uninsured and growing financial pressures on health care providers have created the right conditions for major reform at the federal level, a decade after Congress rejected President Clinton (news - web sites)'s proposed overhaul. The report was the last of six studies over three years that explored aspects of the lack of health insurance.

"I believe we're reaching the point where the system is unsustainable," said one of the report's authors, Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan and head of the committee that prepared the report, said the problem "is not going away. It will only get worse."

The Census Bureau (news - web sites) reported that 43.6 million people lacked health insurance at some point in 2002, compared with 39.8 million in 2000.

The study said that strong, bipartisan support is necessary for any proposal to move forward. The report got a boost former Republican Sen. Bob Dole, who praised the goal of universal coverage but said a partisan effort tied to one approach would be doomed to failure.

"If properly framed, the lack of coverage ... can be one of the big, big issues in this election," said Dole, who attended a news conference on the report.

Separately, a survey by two pollsters, a Republican and a Democrat, for the American Hospital Association found that a majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, are willing to pay higher taxes to "assure every American citizen receives health care coverage."

Yet reaction to the study showed the partisan divide that has marked the issue. Democrats were overwhelmingly supportive, while Republicans were skeptical.

Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson said universal coverage by 2010 is "not realistic."

In a meeting with reporters this week, Thompson said, "I just don't think it's in the cards. I don't think that administratively or that legislatively it's feasible."

The Bush administration last year proposed spending up to $89 billion in health care tax credits to help those who do not have employer-based coverage. The Republican-led Congress took no action.

Thompson said the president would have more to say about the uninsured in next week's State of the Union address.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said he was concerned that the report "may not focus enough on the reasons why health care costs continue to rise and how to pay for any reform."

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said the lack of insurance is the leading domestic issue today. He said the report's goal could be met. "I think it's essential," he said.

The institute said the lack of health insurance was deadly, costly and a cause of insecurity even among the insured. Rejecting incremental expansions, it said only major reform at the federal level would make universal coverage a reality.

In previous reports, the institute has estimated that the lack of health insurance causes 18,000 unnecessary deaths in the United States and costs the nation $65 billion to $130 billion annually.

Layoffs and cutbacks in health benefits by employers have led even those with insurance to worry that they could lose it. Lack of adequate health insurance "creates insecurity for everyone, because losing that coverage tomorrow is so easy," the report said.

The Census Bureau said a decline in workplace-based coverage was the main reason for the increase in uninsured between 2001 and 2002.

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On the Net:

Institute of Medicine: http://www.iom.edu