Penn for Obama | Real reform for a broken system

In 2004, the U.S. Institute of Medicine proposed that health care systems should strive for coverage that is universal, continuous, affordable, sustainable and equitable. The Obama-Biden plan for health care reform outlines practical steps toward realizing such a system. The McCain-Palin plan largely fails to do so.

Increasing health care costs present a growing challenge to realizing universal health insurance coverage in the United States. Numerous analyses, including several by the Congressional Budget Office, show that health care costs have risen much faster than wages every year since 1970 and most likely will continue to do so. To combat rising costs, the Obama-Biden plan will promote universal coverage through a new National Health Insurance Exchange. The Exchange will improve health insurance affordability by making transparent different plans' costs and benefits and thereby bringing out the best in the private insurance market. The Exchange also offers a new publicly funded insurance program as an alternative to private plans.

While Obama won't mandate universal public health insurance coverage, the option for publicly funded coverage resonates strongly with the community of American physicians. Survey results published this past March in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicate that about 60 percent of American physicians support public health insurance legislation, up 10 percent from just five years previous.

This growing consensus reflects a widespread understanding that private, for-profit health care programs tend to be tremendously inefficient. A 2003 study published by the Harvard Medical School found that administrative costs account for a full 31 percent of health care expenditures in the United States, but just 4 percent of all Medicare expenditures. That study concludes that private insurers' and providers' large administrative tabs result primarily from the costs of marketing, underwriting and managing the minute details of thousands of different insurance plans. In contrast, a national health insurance program can devote a much greater proportion of its resources to serving its customers.

Obama's plan will emphasize disease-prevention programs designed to help promote Americans' health from early ages onward. A few of the plan's many proposed initiatives include workplace health-promotion programs, school-based health screening programs and more pronounced wellness and educational campaigns.

It's important to realize that in addition to making more accessible the direct benefits of long-term health, disease prevention programs ultimately will save Americans tremendous amounts of money. A 2004 study by Johns Hopkins and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 75 percent of Americans' health care expenditures go toward patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Disease-prevention programs will save people money by enabling them to seek preventative care and limiting their susceptibility to chronic illnesses - putting a big dent in that 75 percent.

The World Health Organization recently reiterated the importance of disease-prevention programs, stating that ". increasingly, people are living with one or more chronic conditions for decades. This places new, long-term demands on health care systems. . In this respect, chronic conditions pose a threat to all countries from a health and economic standpoint." The Obama-Biden plan thus correctly assigns a high priority to funding disease-prevention programs.

It ultimately offers more transparency, more health care choices, coverage for more Americans and sensible solutions to the problem of rising health care costs. In contrast, the McCain plan submits to the still-popular misconception that only market-centered reforms can improve the quality of health insurance - a belief challenged, as we have seen, by a growing consensus of health care experts.

To responsibly serve their constituents, elected officials must work to overcome this misconception and advocate for policies that health professionals say will improve health care. We encourage you to look beyond this very limited treatment of the Obama-Biden health care plan and explore the full proposal at barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf.

Barry Slaff is a College sophomore and member of Penn for Obama.

This is the second in a three-part series. Last month, both campaigns discussed education policies. Later this month, hear from both of the student campaigns about why their presidential candidates deserve your vote!

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